


How to be Human

by TheLadyofMusic, whitehart



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Androids, F/F, F/M, Johnlock - Freeform, M/M, Multi, Parentlock
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-01-01 02:52:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 27,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12147054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLadyofMusic/pseuds/TheLadyofMusic, https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitehart/pseuds/whitehart
Summary: Sherlock and John are just getting comfortable together as a couple, when Sherlock is delivered an unexpected, and unusual, package.German sentences and usage are NOT beta-d. We apologize in advance for wrong usage of words and/or phrases. Do drop us a comment if you find something that needs to be fixed. xx





	1. A Package For Sherlock

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you Jalizar for the translation advice! We hope Missy didn't scare you off...

A rapid series of knocks jolted Mrs Hudson from her chair, almost knocking over her cuppa in her hands. She was having a restful afternoon, enjoying a quiet day after baking scones for the boys that morning.

“Who is it?” She called, with no response at the door, she left the latch on and took a peek out the door, seeing two well-dressed men with a large sealed box in between on her doorstep.

“Package for Mr Holmes,” the man on the left said, while presenting a piece of paper to Mrs Hudson’s, a courier slip.

She reached out, taking the slip from the man and saw it was for Sherlock, from someone in Germany.

These men did not particularly look like they are from FedEx, or any courier services in fact, but after knowing the Holmes brothers for so many years, especially the older one, she knew not to mind these small details. Gently she shut the door to unlatch it and let in both men, pointing up the stairs.

She led the way up, opening the door to the kitchen and gently shoved aside the mess. The two laid the box upon the kitchen table with a loud thud. The table surprisingly was able to take the weight of it without issue, much to the landlady’s surprise considering it took two well built men to carry it up.

She thanked them as they left, before looking for any sign of its recipient. She sighed when she saw him curled up in his favourite pajamas and robe on the sofa. She smiled to herself, ignoring all his nonverbal cues.

Just as she was leaving, she stopped at the door upon hearing the youngest occupant cooing to herself from the bedroom. No doubt the reason why Sherlock was sleeping on the sofa rather than in bed with his partner.

“Sherlock dear,” she said softly, “something special’s arrived for you dear, from Germany… I didn’t know you had any German friends… I could have guessed Mycroft had, by his men delivering it but… Wake up dear before little Rosie opens it,” she said, teasingly.

His toes twitched as he shot a look at her, the look that encompassed all the w-questions - _who, what, where, when and why. Who is it for? What is inside? Where is it from? When did it get here? Why was it sent here?_

“Thank you. You may leave now.” Sherlock said as he exhaled sharply, receiving a sigh in return from Mrs Hudson.

As soon as he heard the door to his flat closes, he leapt from his position on the sofa and stomped towards the package in the kitchen. The mention of Mycroft’s name earlier drove him mad. _What on earth is he planning now?_

Sherlock examined the box carefully. There was an envelope on top with his name on it, written in a neat script. The box smelled like oil, similar to the kind they use on bicycle chains, a soft hum was coming from it. He knew from experience better than to touch it without knowing exactly what was inside. With that, he dialed three on speed dial.

“What’s in the box, brother?”

“Nothing that will kill you. I’m in a meeting. Open the envelope. Have John next to you if you feel threatened by a piece of paper, brother mine.”

-click-

Mycroft hung up on Sherlock the moment he finished his sentence.

“John!” Sherlock shouted. Moments later he heard Rosie’s beginning of a tantrum, and John shuffling around their bedroom, finding ways to stop that from happening.

In a matter of seconds, Rosie’s cries could be heard from Mrs Hudson’s flat downstairs, as John stomped out into the kitchen with a crying toddler in his arms.

“What the fu-- If you’re not hurt or threatened, you will be very sorry Mr Holmes.”

“The box. Need you to open it. Could be dangerous.”

John hushed Rosie as he carried her downstairs to Mrs Hudson, promising her a nice brunch coming weekend, and a whole weekend with Rosie. Mrs Hudson absolutely adored the child, and was more than happy to babysit her for a few hours while the boys figured out what was going on.

“So, you’re afraid of that?” John was back in the kitchen, pointing at the box.

“I’m not afraid of the box, John…” He said, as if speaking to a child, walking towards the box slowly, holding back the urge to open it himself, his curiosity peaking as he went through his collection of handwriting samples and their corresponding owner within his mind palace.

He knew it, but for the life of him couldn’t find where. Rosie’s fault, making him sleep on the sofa rather than his own bed.

“Mycroft sent it… Says it wouldn’t kill me but we know brother does love his games as much as anyone…”

John couldn’t help but roll his eyes at this, his attention going to the reason he had been so rudely awaken.

 _If it’s not one having a tantrum it’s the other_ he thought, _one of the few times she got to sleep all the way through…_ It was only now that he noticed that the box was making a noise, how long had it been doing that? He knew better than to ask his lover, a tired and over worked Sherlock did not make for pleasant for _stupid_ question. _Then again neither does a well rested one…_

“Is it a computer?” He asked, offering what to him seemed a fairly reasonable observation considering he’d just been woken up over a buzzing, possibly vibrating… A slight blush filled his cheeks, his eyes going to the other man, relieved that his attention seemed to be upon the item on the table.

Sherlock tutted, giving John the closest he gave to insulting looks, at least to him, shaking his head as ran his finger over his bottom lip to keep himself from touching the box.  
“No, it’s not a computer, only outdated places use computers of that size…”

“Sherlock, it’s not… You haven’t ordered a… Mycroft wouldn’t send us something like… That?”

Why was he having so much trouble asking him? He’d known this man for years, sharing practically everything, and as of relatively recently literally everything, he’d seen him order worse things than sex toys.  
“Seriously John, not everyone's world revolves around procreational acts,” he said, making his lover raise his eyebrows high.

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind shall I…” He said, slightly hurt by his words.

He sighed, deciding he may as well open the box for the big baby. Sherlock pointed at the envelope stuck on the box, hinting that John should read that first. He pulled the envelope loose and retrieved a card from within, Sherlock was cautious, worried that the card could be laced with poison or hallucinogenic. He grabbed a tweezer from his pile of experiment tools across the table and pulled the card from John’s hand.

_Hallo Sherlock,_  
_Entweder weißt du oder du weißt nicht von meiner Existenz, aber ich habe deine Arbeit über die Jahre hin stets verfolgt. Sehr beeindruckende Arbeit, es hat mich sogar dazu inspiriert dies für dich... uns zu tun. Ich bin dir sehr ähnlich, außer, dass ich meine Intelligenz für eine ganz andere Branche der Arbeit eingesetzt habe. Ich hatte auch, genau wie du, meine angeborene menschliche Natur stark unterdrückt, bis ich die Liebe meines Lebens getroffen hatte._  
_Ich wünschte du wirst das nie in die Hände bekommen, denn falls und wenn es das tut ich entweder vermisst werde oder ich tot bin, sehr wahrscheinlich letzteres._  
_Bitte lass es nicht in falsche Hände geraten._  
_K. Schmidt_

John was peeking at the card held in Sherlock’s tweezers. He hadn’t used German for a long time, but it wasn’t difficult to pick up words that he recognized, and piece the note together.

The little content that he extrapolated from the note gave him the impression that it wasn’t anything too dangerous, and it would be safe to open it.

Leaving Sherlock to read the note, he went to the fireplace and pulled the knife from the Cluedo board, before he began to carefully slice through the seals on the box.

  
_Whoever it’s from has a serious plastic fetish…_

Once the last piece of plastic had been sliced, the box blossomed out like petals, almost seeming to sigh with relief, revealing the form of a young woman.

“Well that’s a nice little… Quirk…” He said, before his eyes focused upon the box contents, and at this John couldn’t help but gasp, taking a step back, trying to ensure he was seeing what he thought he had.

She sat, back arched slightly, relaxed. Her knees bent and drew into her chest, arms wrapped around her legs as her head rested slightly against her knees, her dark curly hair flowing down meeting the table. She was completely still, and without a shred of clothing.

“Sherlock…” John hissed, fighting to take his eyes off of the unexpected delivery, “I thought you said… Oh my God Sherlock please… She’s not breathing!”

Sherlock however now seemed willing to approach, his eyes wide as he took her in, reaching forwards her ran his fingertips lightly over her legs, a small smile on his lips.

“An android. Interesting,” Sherlock hummed as he peeled off the rest of the packaging stuck around her body, and bits of foam stuck to her hair.

“Android? Why would anyone need a female clone of you?”

Sherlock hadn’t realised, but John was right. Staring straight into the android’s face, the detective found himself looking at an exact replica of him, minus the wrinkles at the corner of his eyes, as well as the difference made obvious between the genders. He shrugged his shoulders, and looked back at John, meeting his eyes and held out the note into John’s face.

“Read it again. Maybe you’ll be able to keep up then.”

John read the note again, this time racking his brain for every piece of German he had learnt twenty years ago. He translated most of it in his head, making up bits and pieces as he went, but there were still words he couldn’t understand.

“Sherlock, you know I can’t read German as well as I used to. Just translate it for me, please?”

The detective rolled his eyes and mumbled,

“Hello Sherlock, you may or may not be aware of my existence, but I have been following your work throughout the years. Very impressive work, even inspired me to do this for you… us. I am very much like you, except I’ve applied my intelligence towards a different sector of work altogether. Also like you, I’ve suppressed my innate human nature deep within, until I met the love of my life. I wish this may never arrive at your doorsteps, because when it does, I am either missing or dead, most likely the latter. Please, do not let this fall into the wrong hands. Signed K. Schmidt.”

“Any recollection of that name?”

“I need a minute, John.” Sherlock paced towards the living room and did a dramatic flop onto his chair, and quickly sunk back into his mind palace.

While Sherlock was searching for this name in his archives, John took the initiative to clean out the android, placing it on the floor while he threw out the packaging scattered all over the kitchen floor.

As the two men busied themselves, John with tidying up the packaging and bits of foam which now had decided it’d be fun to float around rather than stay put, and Sherlock with trying to recall how and why he knew a K. Schmidt, along with why they would she send him such a piece of work, neither noticed that the android’s eyes had opened and they now sat on the ground, watching them silently.

Once John was satisfied that every piece of packaging was away and in the rubbish, he turned to speak to Sherlock.

“So, what are we going to do with her? Could always use a spare hand around the house, especially as Rosie gets older,” he smiled softly at his partner, who had been doing his best with his new role as a parent but still had a lot to learn about babies and children.

“It’s not a she John, it just happens to have the physical traits of a female human,” he said, now going through his physical collection of people, as so far his mind palace had pulled up absolutely nothing on the name on the letter. He looked up at him, brows creased in a look of disdain.

“We get a sent the first android of this level of detail, and you want it to do dishes and nappies… Think bigger John,” he said, before going back to what he was doing.

“It was just a suggestion… If you’re so desperate to find out where she’s from why don’t you just call… Mycroft…” He went still as his eyes met with the androids, their eyes meeting as she had been looking around the room. Her stare was intense, piercing, as if it could slice right through him.

“Erm… Sherlock, she… It’s awake,” he said, slightly panicked now that the woman-- machine was conscious. A low hum of machine booting up resonated through the quiet flat. Sherlock stared at it as John took a few steps closer to his partner, subconsciously protecting him.

“Well, hello. Look at what we have here...” Biting her bottom lip as her eyes roamed them briefly.

John exhaled sharply and jumped in surprise when the android spoke.

“It speaks… “ John said, unsure in himself if he was really surprised by this, considering she looked like a real woman it would make sense that she could talk.

“I could say the same about you… I do in fact… But yes, it speaks as you so lovingly put it, in about twenty languages last time I checked my files…” She said as she began to stand up, flipping her hair back as she looked to the other man, raising an eyebrow.

“So... That’s what this form was based on… Hmm… I suppose she could have had worse blueprints to work off…” She said, as her eyes scanned over him, brow creasing ever so slightly, “though she seemingly got a few details wrong…” She said, looking down at herself, poking her breasts, before meeting his eyes again, “mine are bigger,” her eyes going to his chest.

John felt a slight blush fill his cheeks at how the naked wom…. _Machine! It is a machine, not a woman!_ He inwardly scolded himself. Yet, machine or not she looked real enough and was prodding at herself as she looked at his man. _Thank God **he’s** not naked, I do not need to see a machine explore **there**._

“So… Going by the fact I’m awake and out of that box not where I was put into it… My Lady, Dr Schmidt to you, must be… missing... if not deceased…” She said, the coldness in the delivery of her words hitting John, as it had when Sherlock had done it in the first few days of their friendship.

“Which means... This must be two hundred and twenty one B, Baker Street, Marylebone, London England, in the United Kingdom…” At this she spun on the spot, stopping when she was facing them again, eyes now going over John as well.

“Making shortie here, Dr John Hamish Watson, PhD and MD, former member of the Royal Army Medical Corps and the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers. Born on the eighth of September, nineteen seventy one. Has one younger sibling, Harriet “Harry” Watson. Widow of Mary Morston, real identity…” Her head twitched to the side, a fleeting expression of pain coating her face.

“File unavailable, access denied…” Her voice changed slightly, seeming more artificial, before she lifted her head and resumed in her previous voice. “Biological father to one child, female, aged three years, four months, two weeks and five days, named Rosamund Mary Watson. Currently in a relationship with William Sherlock Scott Holmes.”

John felt a slight shiver going up his spine at all the information that the machine had access to, her attention now shifting to Sherlock.

“Meaning curly wurly here is none other, than William Sherlock Scott Holmes, the world's only official consulting detective. Born sixth of January nineteen seventy seven, one older sibling, Mycroft Holmes, and one… One… One...” Her head twitched to the side again, pain covering her face briefly.

“File corrupted or improperly removed from database,” the same artificial voice called out before she resumed, eyebrow raised with her arms bent at the elbow and pointed to the sides with her hands palms up. “Did I miss anything out, boys?”

John held the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes tight. As if two was not enough, now he had three emotionally immature beings to take care of. In that moment, he had an idea.

“Sherlock, it's all yours. This Schmidt only addressed it to you. I’m going to leave you two to get acquainted. Just don’t blow up the flat again.” He waved his left hand in the air saying goodbye to his partner and the new toy, trotted downstairs to join Rosie and Mrs Hudson for tea.


	2. Chapter 2

Left alone with the android, Sherlock asked every question he could think of. What he found out was intriguing- its creator, Karen Schmidt, was a German inventor who was a high functioning sociopath just like himself, married to an unknown high profile government official.

Sherlock immediately saw the link between Karen’s husband and how she would have known about Sherlock - Mycroft.

She had been following Sherlock’s work through John’s blog since their first case together. In many ways, she related to him, often too smart to be liked by others. She had hoped that the android would help Sherlock learn, by programming it semantically.

Most of the android’s memories were in separate chips from older versions of herself. She turned around and the back of her head hinged open a small window, enough for Sherlock to see a dozen of microchips labeled in years. One microchip stuck out amongst the rest - a red chip without a label.

“The red one. Why is it different?”

“That one is currently deactivated. It is supposed to contain some information on Doctor Schmidt’s activities while I was powered down. You’ll need her to activate it...” She held her right palm up and showed Sherlock a biometric scanner at the center and a small tip of a syringe peeking out of her index finger, “blood and DNA identification.”

“Where is your master?” Sherlock was getting impatient by the second.

He hated not knowing, despised the fact that Karen wasn't there to give him enough data. He had no way of lining up the information in his head. Something was missing, something didn't make sense.

Missy rolled her eyes as she turned back around to face him, clicking the piece back in her head with a sigh, the syringe sliding back in, and out of sight.

“For one, I don’t have a master, and for two, I told you what I know about that, in fact I could ask you the same question, mister. I was switched off for... Twenty nine days, six hours and twenty seven seconds, before you rudely woke me earlier… Cold hands, by the way, no wonder shorty is so moody… However I am searching for her whereabouts, but as of now, I have no information available… Other than what she told me, if I ever wake up here she’s dead and or missing.”

 _This is at least a twelve_ Sherlock thought, before he shouted for John, only to hear a soft cooing from the now open flat door. Rosie was in John’s arms, smiling at the android and struggling to leap towards it. John felt the wriggling and held the toddler out, reaching towards the android.

“So, what's your name?” John asked as the android took Rosie in her arms.

The android paused, looking intently at the little human before she seemed to hear his question, or at least decided to respond.

“Doctor Schmidt named me Missy.” John raised an eyebrow at the name,

“That explains the attitude…”

“In that case you shoulda been called grumpy…” She muttered, tilting her head as she looked at the little girl who was now in her arms, brow creasing as she took her in. “I’ve never seen one of your lot so small…” She said, drawing her head back as Rosie went to grab for her hair, “does explain how they fit inside the females during the gestation period… And why so many of them died in the past…”

She looked to John for a second, eyebrow raising as she pressed her lips together, as he smirked slightly at her.

“Are you able to say anything without adding something unpleasant?”

“Yes I am, actually… But when you go to sleep only to wake up miles from home with no familiar faces, it puts you in a bad mood… As for you, it’s funny…”

“What… What is?”

“Well, I go from curly’s toy when you have a pout about, but when handy I’m fine to hold your only child…” She tutted, “you’re sending your little one here mixed signals, and with daddy two being a bloody fool… Well, she’ll definitely be fun as she gets older.”

Sherlock now knew that Missy had some form of capacity for emotions, watching how the machine had almost instinctive knowledge on and interact with Rosie.

As of this moment, he knew he had to find Karen, and there was no other way to do it but to ask Mycroft. He needed to know. Karen Schmidt.

**Who and why? -SH**

**Be there shortly. -MH**

John led Missy and Rosie into the kitchen and sat the toddler into her high chair. Missy was doing a great job taking care of their child, he kept them in his line of sight as he pulled a chair, sitting next to Sherlock.

“Could this be a trap? You know how creative your enemies can be…”

“Not enough data, John. But Karen’s intentions are quite clear. She needs us to protect Missy, and the red chip.”

“Missy is going to stick out. She’s obviously not human enough to blend into societ-- Oh…”

John had a sudden realization- _Karen sent Missy to us, specifically Sherlock, so she could learn how to be human progressively, while doing him a favour, without him realizing it of course._

“Yes, John. I also believe she has a limited memory capacity for emotional intelligence. We need to do this slowly, otherwise she might overload. We also need to find out where Karen is… _dead or alive_.” Sherlock frowned as he whispered the end of his sentence.

John reached his hand and held Sherlock’s, letting him know that he was there to support in any way possible.

Missy turned her head, a small smile on her lips. She could hear them as well as if they were sat right beside her, no doubt Sherlock was aware or at least assumed this. His tone of voice didn't match his words, it wasn't cold or detached, it was like… Like her lady’s.


	3. Chapter 3

They sat in front of the fireplace in silence until the door to their flat opened. Mycroft walked in with Lestrade right behind, they both sat at the sofa, each waiting for the other to start the conversation.

“So… why am I here?” Greg broke the silence.

Sherlock spent the next five minutes explaining the series of events that unfolded that morning. Mycroft sat in silence, looking at Missy in the kitchen, studying her every move intently. John noticed Mycroft’s shoulders tensed when Missy carried Rosie.

John cleared his throat catching Mycroft’s attention, and mouthed ‘it’s fine’.

The android glanced at the group, eyes focusing on the older Holmes, her system went through the choices of reactions. She noticed little Rosie pulling tongues at him, smirking as she copied the child, earning a little giggle from her.

“Who is Karen?” John asked right after Sherlock finished.

“Her husband is an acquaintance of mine. She is a brilliant scientist. Not good with people, like you and I, brother mine. Anthea received the package three months ago, with specific instructions to not open it. Opening the box would activate _her_ …” he glanced over at Missy again, who flipped her hair back, staring back at him till he looked away, taking a deep breath before he continued, “we subjected the package through a series of deep scans and determined that it was safe. There was something that we noticed in her head, but I’m sure by now you would’ve noticed that it is capable of learning, evolving.”

As he paused gathering his thoughts, his eyes wandered into the kitchen again, only this time, he saw a man with Rosie instead of a woman. He leapt onto his feet, drawing a small gun from the handle of his umbrella, pointing it at the man.

“Put the child down, and step away from her, now!” Mycroft was now standing next to the man, pointing the gun to his head. Sherlock pushed the gun down towards the floor, staring at his brother while John picked Rosie up, bringing the now wailing toddler into the room.

“You are getting old, Mycroft. This is the android. Keep up.”

Missy stood from her seat to turn around and face Mycroft. She had Lestrade’s face now, only twenty years younger. Looking over Mycroft’s shoulder, she looked straight at the DI and smiled, he had lost all the colour from his face.

“What the fu--”

“No swearing with Rosie in the house.” Sherlock cut Greg off mid-swear.

“I didn’t get a good look at you, Detective Inspector, but I found a nice photo of you on the internet. Rosie seems to like that face… So does Mycroft. Dilated pupils, increasing blood pressure… Oooo such… Hidden desires.” Missy said to Greg, while her face morphed into someone else, her hair extending down to her shoulder, “this is her face, Dr Schmidt's... I will stay in this state until we find her. Last thing we need is a distraction.” She said winking in Mycroft’s direction, smirking towards Lestrade.

John spent the next hour hushing Rosie to sleep, pacing around the kitchen before rejoining the group, unaware that Missy had been watching them, biting her lip. When she could sense only Rosie’s eyes on her, she waved, mouthing ‘night night’, earning a small tired wave from the child as her father carried her out the room.

It had been a long day, as it got closer to the evening, Anthea appeared in the flat with some takeout for everyone. Missy sat with them, filling them in with what she was from what she had been told.

Missy was more advanced than any technology available at the time. She could morph into anyone, as long as there was enough photograph references, or if she could analyse the person up close for at least two seconds.

Her hair was made from a variation of graphene. Despite its strength, it is extremely flexible and could stretch by twenty percent without any damage. It was also a superb conductor of electricity, and was the best conductor of heat on the planet. She could change the colour and length at will, with a maximum length of her body, though this could also change to fit any persona she wished, within reason.

She could also alter her gender appearance, deflating her chest and revealing a more prominent Adam’s apple to appear as a male.

The first version of her was made without a gender, but spending time alone with Karen she had grown more comfortable with the female gender, therefore she prefered to appear as a woman.

She had the brain capacity of a supercomputer, peaking at ninety PFLOPS, just a little short of the fastest supercomputer in the world. She was able to attach her mind to any wireless network within a two kilometer radius, encrypted or not. With the entire internet within her reach, she could source for information and process them quickly to get what she needed to know.

To Mycroft, this posed a security threat, if she was to fall into the wrong hands, something Karen must have known, which was why she built Missy to have a conscience, in the hope she would learn to have a moral compass, thus enabling her to determine right from wrong. Seemingly there was no one better to learn from than Sherlock and John.

However, he however still saw Missy as a literal walking, talking weapon.

The red chip was revealed to Mycroft, and they agreed that finding Karen would now be their number one priority. Karen had built Missy to jolt a thousand watts through the chip, enough electricity to power a computer for five hours, but would melt the chip to a fine but useless liquid. Any attempts to access the chip would activate this protocol, or if Missy determined that she had no other choice.


	4. Chapter 4

In the coming days, Mycroft and Sherlock spent most of their time in a makeshift office at two two one B, with Greg and John keeping themselves busy with taking care of the Holmes brothers, as well as Rosie.

Missy was running her brain at full capacity, crunching more data than any of them had ever seen in such a short period of time.

In two days, they’d determined Karen’s travel patterns, she had last been spotted on a traffic camera near the Tower of London. 

She appeared to be pacing frantically back and forth between two spots, as if looking for someone, until she walked into a blind spot and disappeared.

“We need to go there. Mycroft, get those cameras repositioned to how it was in the video.”

Mycroft, Sherlock and Greg started making calls. The British Government himself called Anthea to make arrangements, setting up the surveillance and snipers around the perimeters for safety measures. 

Sherlock contacted Bobby, one of his liaisons within the homeless network, to get them into positions around the area, and reaching out to the group who was in that area on the day Karen was taken. 

Greg got his team to gather in New Scotland Yard for a briefing on this matter. There was now a missing person, which happened right under their noses, he wasn’t going to let the Holmes brothers take it into their own hands, no matter how powerful Mycroft may be. 

John busied himself with packing a bag for Rosie, knowing that the scenario could escalate without any signs, it was best to have Mrs Hudson babysit the toddler for a few days.

Missy, once her creator's last location had been detected, had been left to amuse herself, but kept from playing with Rosie.

“Car is ready. Let’s go.” Mycroft stood up and straightened his suit before walking out of the flat. Lestrade followed right behind, motioning for John and Sherlock to go.

“Give us a minute, Graham.” Sherlock said, earning a sigh, though he nodded, before closing the door behind him.

Sherlock turned over to John. He was frowning so hard, his eyebrows met in the middle. He kept his head low and held John in a tight hug.

“This may not end well. Whoever started this is highly intelligent, given that they kidnapped Karen right under Mycroft’s nose. If anything happens to me, please, know that I would have tried my best to stay safe.”

John felt a rush of mixed emotions swelling in his eyes. He let his tears fall off the corner of his eyes and held his face on Sherlock’s chest.

“I love you too, Sherlock.”

Missy stood by the kitchen table, watching the two adult humans she had grown closest too during her time without Dr Schmidt. She slowly approached them, her own brow creased as she sighed, shaking her head.

“This is a new feeling. I… I don’t like this but I... I like it at the same time. Makes my,” she tapped her chest, sighing, “wires, tingle.” She walked towards the detective and his blogger, wanting to join but not knowing how to, “I will make sure we are all safe…” She drew back, shaking out her hair again. “For Rosie’s sake, of course… She’s the only one in this house who treats me as an equal… Food for thought,” she said, before prancing away from them.

She went to where she had began to perch when Rosie wasn’t with them but the men were still awake, upon the table, back turned to them. After a few moments of silence she spoke again, softly.

“Do I have to dress like…” She looked to them, wearing the face she had when they had first opened the box. She looked over their faces, body, every inch of their being and existence, thinking over her next words before saying, “a human… Or am I permitted to look like me?” 

Missy’s “skin” was convincing enough to the passing observer to seem like a naked person, but when looked at closely it was clear it was more akin to an animal’s fur than human skin in it’s design.

As she spoke she had never seemed so real, a person rather than the machine she was, defenseless and lost, like a child, like Rosie. John looked to Sherlock but he had his nose buried in work.

“I’m not sure, Missy, it may be best for you to blend in… Just in case the people who took her get spooked by seeing you…” John said softly, “we want to get her back safe, for everyone’s sake…”

“Am I that scary? Because my skins not real… Or I don’t see what’s wrong with being clothless… Because I don’t fit the norms of your lot, even less than curly and his brother?” She asked, smirking ever so slightly at the shorter man, “do you think you’ll find her, alive?”

John shrugged his shoulders. If Missy couldn’t find out the answer to her own questions, what made her think John would?  _ She trusts me, hardly knows me, does nothing but mock me but…  _ he thought, looking her in the eye, reaching forwards, he held a hand on her shoulders, gently tapping and brushing it as they walked out of the flat together.

Mycroft had arranged another car to take Mrs Hudson to her sister’s with Rosie, adding a few security detail to go with them as precaution. His distrust of the android ever present, especially in regards to the child she’d became seemingly infatuated with.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so just a heads up for this part and future parts, the bits in brackets are translations.

Moving out into the street towards the Tower of London, everyone was silently pondering the possible outcomes of this.

For Mycroft, it was a question of would it turn into a full-on war with the people hunting down Missy. Which side would the machine be on? Could she be turned into a mindless weapon, reprogrammed into the world’s worst nightmare? He gave the machine a backward glance, holding all his disdain for the abomination within it.

Missy, walked along side the two men, eyes locked upon the older Holmes, her lip curled as she snarled slightly, even before catching him looking at her.

“If you cause anything to happen to Dr Schmidt, fatty, consider it you signing your own death warrant… All these delays… I could have found her and be back home by now… Fatty is as slow as his body says he is.” She shook her head, earning a disapproving look from John, where as Sherlock couldn’t help but smirk.

On catching John’s eye she shrugged, looking away slightly,  _the little man was so touchy, for everyone’s sake seemingly._

“I’d say bye to Rosie of course, before we went… It’d only be fair to the little one…” This caused John to chuckle, patting her back, “would I be permitted to see her still, even after I go home with Dr Schmidt?” She asked, eyes begging him to agree.

“I think it’d upset Rosie if you didn’t,” he said, making her nearly grin, though she suppressed it to a small smile, barely. “But no more threats of death.”

She nodded, before biting her bottom lip in thought, tilting her head slightly.

“Alright, no deaths… But maimings? I mean, survivable ones of course…”

“Missy.” He said, sternly, sighing heavily, before he leaned in and whispered, “your Sherlock is showing.” Making the android snigger as she nodded, putting her hands up in surrender.

“No maiming… No maiming…”

 

There was an alleyway right in the blind spot of the two CCTVs. As the group went deeper into the dark alley, Sherlock spotted some skid marks at the corner turning right.

“Two days old. A van, Renault Trafic. Most likely white.”

No one was going to ask how Sherlock figured that much out from just a skidmark, just to avoid his ‘people see but do not observe’ lecture, but John knew full well how.

How Sherlock had spent days studying skid marks after one particular case where his doctor was kidnapped by a passing vehicle, and he couldn't determine the skid marks of the particular model that took John. They almost lost each other that time and the detective had taken months to stop berating himself over it.

Missy was soon connected into Mycroft’s private connection through his phone, and was now scouring the government’s surveillance database, tracking the van that had left this alley on the day Karen was taken.

She continued to track it while everyone got into an unmarked car and followed her navigation. They stopped in front of a large warehouse in Central London, it was empty and derelict.

One of Mycroft’s armed guards broke the lock, and led the group into a large ground floor with mezzanine levels. There was only one main entrance and one elevator that led down to the basement.

“Cameras,” Mycroft’s voice echoed throughout the vacant lot, “keep your eyes open.”

“Missy’s gone,” John whispered.

From the corner of his eye, he spotted Missy’s shadow going into a room at the back. Before anyone could blink, they heard a loud explosion.

Missy ran into the back room, found the metal door going down to the basement, she had downloaded the schematics of the building so she knew where the best place to keep a hostage.

The door was bolted from the other side, but Missy had no trouble when it came to literally breaking and entering. She lifted her hand and pointed at it, a little red dot was shining on the bolt. A huge charge shot through, collapsing the door to the other side.

“Ah, a little too much…” She quietly said to herself.

Just as she was mounting over the fallen door, John appeared behind her, mouth opening to make a comment on the mess. She lifted a finger on her lips, the laser clicking off, as she shushed him.

“Don’t shush me. That was really loud if you didn’t realise it already. We need to move quickly before someone realises we’re here.”

Missy rolled her eyes, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Of course I realise it was loud… I said it was too much, duh, honestly.”

Greg led Mycroft’s men on the ground floor clearing every nook and cranny, while the brothers followed John down to the basement.

It was dark, only lit by a single light source on the far side of the room, it took John’s eyes a short while to adjust to the light. As he blinked hard to quicken up the process, he heard Missy’s footsteps starting to go further and further away.

“DOCTOR SCHMIDT!!”

John heard Missy yelling out loud, and clicks of various firearm’s safety going off. The doctor opened his eyes, seeing at least six rifles pointed at them, the others still hidden in the shadows. He felt a slight movement behind him and heard Sherlock whispering unintelligible words.

“Not my smartest move…” The android muttered to herself, her posture changing as she stood in front of John, eyes scanning through the darkness, making a count of those hidden in the dark.

“Fourteen, and you...” Missy said as a man in a pristine suit walked out from the shadows, pointing a pistol at Doctor Schmidt.

“Ta-daa! Surprise surprise, _Missy_!” The kidnapper spat at the mention of the android’s name. She sighed, rolling her eyes as she shook her head.

“ _Vorsitzender_ ,” Mycroft hissed under his breath, “He’s the chief council of ministers in Germany, my counterpart.”

“In short, any one working in politics is too dumb to like me…” She ran her eyes over Mycroft and the man who was pointing the gun at Schmidt, “also they need to go on diet…”

“Missy…” Dr Schmidt gently scolded, the android's eyes instantly going to her as she shrugged, a small smirk on her lips.

“It is true, I mean come on, remove the overly open campness, change the accent and we could play ‘which arse is which?’ Is it the one that let this happen under his nose, no doubt busy eating cake,” she said, indicating Mycroft, “or, the one dumb enough to not see this coming…”

At her words her hands splayed, fingers aimed at each man's hands, before the same laser which had opened the bolt shot out, over heating their guns till they were forced to drop them rather than to scald their hands.

“ _Rückzug! Rückzug!_ ” (Retreat! Retreat!) The once armed men of Mr. Schmidt started retreating, heading for the underground door that lead back to the ground floor.

Missy knew Greg had a heavily armed team were upstairs, so made no effort of stopping them.

“Now, where were we? Ah yes, you, the dumb one to not see this coming…” the android walked towards Mr Schmidt and Karen, who was laying on her side upon the floor. She let her heels click with every step, staring straight into his eyes, slowly but surely trickling fear into him.

Missy was just four paces away from the Schmidts when the man pulled out another gun from his back holster,

 _“Ein weiterer Schritt und ich schieße, Frau oder nicht_.” (One more step and I’ll shoot. Wife or not.)

“ _Was möchtest du wirklich?_ ” (What do you really want?) Mycroft said from behind Missy.

“Stay out of this, fatty.” Missy growled in a very low voice, eyes fixed on Mr Schmidt’s finger on the trigger.

“ _Froh, dass du gefragt hast, herr Holmes. Ich will sie._ ” (Glad you asked, Mister Holmes. I want her.) Mr Schmidt replied to Mycroft while lifting his index finger from his free hand towards Missy.

The android raised an eyebrow at him, smoothing out herself.

“Thanks, but you’re not my type…” Earning a disapproving look from her doctor, she hung her head slightly.

“ _Sie wissen, dass das nicht möglich ist. Sie ist zu gefährlich, um in irgendjemandes Besitz zu sein._ ” (You know that it is not possible. She is too dangerous to be in anyone’s possession.)

“ _Sehe ich so aus als würde es mich kümmern?!_ ” (Do I look like I care?!) Mr Schmidt was pressing a little more on the trigger.

“ _Ich werde mit dir gehen. Lass sie jetzt gehen._ ” (I will go with you. Let her go, now.) Missy was getting impatient with Mycroft’s interference.

As long as Karen was safe, it didn't matter what would happen to herself, even if they did decommission her for good.

“You are not going anywhere, Missy. You have no idea what you are capable of in the wrong hand--”

“ _Genug! Geh zur Hölle, alle von euch._ ” (Enough! Go to hell, all of you.)

A shot rang out.


	6. Chapter 6

No one could register what had happened, except for Missy, but it was too late. The trigger-happy husband of her maker had just shot her in the chest. She leapt towards the murderer, wrapped her legs around his abdomen, hands around his head and whispered in his ear,

“Du kannst Hitler Hallo sagen. ” (You can say hello to Hitler.) She twisted his head near clean off, blood bursting forth, coating her in it.

Mycroft saw Karen now on her back, chest lifting and collapsing heavily, blood pooling and staining her shirt. Missy knelt next to Karen, lifting her into her lap, cradling her head as she stroked her hair, feral whimpers and whines coming from the machine, whose eyes ran over her creator’s body.

Karen slowly lifted her hand to caress her android’s cheek, gently shushing her, a small smile on her lips, her eyes meeting with Missy’s.

"Hush jetzt, hush, keine Notwendigkeit für solche Geräusche, mein süßes Mädchen... Wir beide wussten, dass dies passieren musste, es ist die Schuld an den Menschen... " (Hush now, hush, no need for such noises, my sweet girl… We both knew that this was bound to happen, it is the fault with humans…) Her voice was weak, growing weaker with each forced breath, but still soft and gentle.

"Aber du hast gesagt, du wärst alt und brauchst... Du bist nicht alt oder büchst... " (But you said you would be old and in need of ironing… You're not old or need ironing…) Missy said, her voice reflecting the look in eyes, all the knowledge in the world was useless to the little machine girl. Karen laughed softly, coughing slightly,

"Oh mein Kleiner... ich wollte dich nicht anlügen, nicht immer... es kommt früher als ich gehofft hatte.. _._ " (Oh my little one… I did not mean to lie to you, not ever… It is coming sooner than I had hoped…) Missy shook her head frantically, running her hand over her creator's mouth.

"Halt die Klappe, Halt die Klappe, wenn du die Klappe hast, musst du nicht gehen... Du musst mich nicht verlassen... ich kenne diesen Ort oder diese Leute nicht... ich will nicht, ich will einfach nur Geh mit dir nach Hause... " (Shut up, shut up, if you shut up you don’t have to go… You don’t have to leave me… I don’t know this place or these people… I don’t want to, I just want to go home with you…)

“Ich weiß, ich weiß... Aber wir können nicht nach Hause gehen, nicht zusammen... Dieses Land ist jetzt zu Hause... Der Arzt und sein Detektiv deine Familie... ” (I know, I know… But we can’t go home, not together… This country is your home now… The doctor and his detective your family…) At this Missy closed her eyes, lips pressed in a thin line as she shook her head in defiance.

“ Ich will sie nicht... Ich möchte bei dir bleiben, bitte... Sie fürchten mich... Hass mich etwas... Ich will nach Hause gehen, unser Zuhause... ” (I don’t want them… I want to stay with you, please… They fear me… Hate me some… I want to go home, our home…)

“Shhh, jetzt... Shhh, mein Kleiner... ” (Shhh, now… Shhh, my little one…) She said stroking her hair tenderly, as she began to sing “Ist das das kleine Mädchen, das ich getragen habe? Ist das das kleine Mädchen? Ich erinnere mich nicht, älter zu werden, wann war sie? Wann wurde sie eine Schönheit? Wann wurde sie so groß? War es nicht gestern, als sie klein war? ” (Is this the little girl i carried? Is this the little girl at play? I don't remember growing older, when did she? When did she get to be a beauty? When did she grow to be so tall? Wasn't it yesterday when she was small?)

“ Sonnenaufgang Sonnenuntergang, Sonnenaufgang, Sonnenuntergang. Schnell fließen die Tage, Sämlinge drehen über Nacht zu Sonnenblumen, blühen, auch wenn sie... Sonnenaufgang Sonnenuntergang,... Sonnenaufgang Sonnenuntergang, Sonnenaufgang, Sonnenuntergang! ” (Sunrise sunset, sunrise, sunset. Swiftly flow the days, seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers, blossoming even as they gaze… Sunrise sunset,… Sunrise sunset, sunrise, sunset!) Missy joined in with her, keeping her voice as gentle as she could, as to not overpower her. Karen patted her hand and she took over, holding her closer as tears flowed down her cheeks.

“ Fliege schnell die Jahre, eine Saison nach dem anderen, beladen mit Glück und Tränen... Eine Saison nach einem anderen... ” (Swiftly fly the years, one season following another, laden with happiness and tears… One season following another…) She felt her creator draw in a shaking breath, before her body went limp, “ Laden mit Glück und Tränen... ” (Laden with happiness and tears). The android held the woman close, her blood spreading and smearing onto her, sobbing heavily.

“Please… Please wake up… I don’t like this game, it’s not fun or funny… Please, it isn’t time to sleep… Mutti… Bitte Mutti… ” (Mama… Please Mama…)

The men stood by, watching the scene, none daring or wanting to intrude upon this moment. John leaned into Sherlock, sighing heavily, his heart aching for the robotic girl, his eyes growing damp with unexpected tears.

Silence filled the air as the android wept as long as she could, tenderly stroking her human’s hair, her cheeks damp and sticky.


	7. Chapter 7

“She should not be dead… She should be alive… She would be… If not for you, you fucking arse hole,” Missy said, lifting her head to glare at Mycroft, her jaw clenching, her voice now holding a German accent, “who gave you the right to choose what I do, if it would save her and keep her… It was my choice, yet you stole it… Is that all you do? You keep me in that box for over a month, stealing time from finding her… You steal my moments with her, my choice to save her… She would be alive if it wasn’t for you. It was my life. Mine to decide…” She looked at Karen, kissing her forehead. “You are a monster… You should not share the same name as your brother… Look at him, compared to you… He is a human… You are scum…” She now looked up at him again, “it was either her choice or mine, not yours!” She snapped, “never ever yours… You wasted time annoying the fool she married… Running your mouth, acting the big peacock… Now I am alone, no mother or father… No home... “ She leaned down and whispered into her human’s ear, “Verzeihen Sie mir Mama für das, was ich tue ... Ich tue für Sie, für uns ... Für unsere verweigerte Zukunft.” (Forgive me mama for what I do... I do for you, for us... For our denied future.)

She carefully lay her creator’s body upon the ground, before she slowly rose to her feet. She strode across decisively towards Mycroft, her arms dangled beside her, swinging as she walked closer and closer, until she was face to face with Mycroft.

“We couldn’t let him have you. My condolences.” It was all Mycroft said, straightening his shirt before their eyes met. 

He felt Missy’s body vibrating through the air between them, her anger sending her systems into overdrive. At his words she began to laugh, a broken crazed laugh, more of a cackle.

“We? Who the fuck is we? Who stands with you, hmm?” She gestured around, as no one moved closer to him, all seeming to draw themselves in and away. “There is no we for you, you do not deserve a we, for you could hurt that we, like you hurt me… But,” she sniggered, “I am only a machine… What was it you called me,” she tilted her head away in thought, “a weapon… Yes, you see me only as a weapon… Well then, if that’s all I am…”

Sherlock held onto John as the army doctor sobbed quietly in his belstaff, slowly distancing themselves away from Mycroft and Missy, he could only watch the androids slow decent into a madness he had felt but denied himself. They could both sense the tension between the two, like the rumble before a volcanic eruption.

She reached up, grinning widely as the older Holmes flinched at her touch as she carefully caressed his cheek. She grabbed his face hard in her hands before smashing it against her own, lifting her knee to his gut, hitting hard. She snatched his shoulders and smashed him into the wall behind him, a few bricks cracking from the impact.

“You fucking ruined my life… Yet, the woman YOU killed is the very reason you are still breathing, pain you feel yes but life is still yours… You cannot even thank her, because of your pompous words… I could let you join her easily… She need never know, you shan’t tell her, even after, you will be in Hölle, and she the brightest part of Himmel.” (Hell, Heaven) 

She watched as he slowly lifted a gun, pressing the barrel into her chest, she merely grinned at him, arms spread to the side as she stepped back, eyes closed.

Mycroft’s raced through what had just happened, both of the murders and the androids attack on him. He could feel his body ache deeply, throbbing, where she had struck him. In all his life he had believed that the only thing that he dreaded was having to identify his brothers body. Now he feared his fate if he let this machine stay in working condition near his brother, and his family.

“You’re not immune to everything, Missy.”

“Shoot me, I welcome a chance to see her again.”

The two were so wrapped in their drama together, neither noticed the doctors motions towards them, as slowly Mycroft pressed down upon the trigger.

“John!” Sherlock screamed.


	8. Chapter 8

John had struggled out of Sherlock’s grip, running before he threw himself between Missy and the bullet. Knowing the older Holmes brother, he knew it wasn’t going to be an ordinary bullet, as Missy was not an ordinary piece of hardware.

Upon contact, it had exploded into fragments, discharging electricity through., it would have killed the android instantly, cutting through wires, sending electric pulses to scramble communications.

Missy caught the collapsing and twitching doctor in her arms, immediately switching into emergency care mode, the man who she hated for no longer existing to her. She measured John’s vital signs, scanning to determine the severity of his injuries.

Sherlock couldn’t believe his own eyes. The love of his life stretched across the android’s lap, her hands hovered all over this body, with him barely breathing. He went close and knelt, taking John’s head between his knees, gently brushing John’s forehead, held his lips close and whispered against it, 

“Please, John. Stay with me…”

John let out a deep breath as his eyes opened wide, as Missy pulled the largest piece of shrapnel from his abdomen. He screamed as he tried claw his way away from her, but she pinned down with one arm, focusing on with what needed to be done. As she removed her fingers from his body, his breathing slowed and calmed, his face slowly relaxing. He caught Sherlock’s eyes and smiled through the pain.

“He will live, curly.” Missy said, scanning him over again slowly, nodding to herself, her voice back to what it had been, “I’ve cauterised his wound temporarily, while calling for an ambulance, he will be stabilized long enough for them to arrive, in eighty two seconds. The bit of electricity won't kill him, just shocked him… But it would've immobilised me.” 

Missy released John, setting him down on the floor next to Sherlock, before standing and walking over to Mycroft, looming over him. She reached forwards, grabbing his lapels as she drew him in close, noses touching.

“Consider your existence a gift from the good doctor Watson, I promised him no killing or maiming, but there are places in the world where no one will know what happened. You know what I am capable of… Do not cross me again, as there will be no gifts next time...” She let go of him, pushing him back as she walked off, slowly disappearing into the air as she went.


	9. Chapter 9

“Find it. I do not particularly care of the methods you will adopt to do it, just find it. You have all my resources at your disposal, so get to work” Mycroft put down the analogue phone within his office with a heavy slam.

His door was ajar, with the noise from inside drawing some attention from only Anthea. The rest of them knew better than to pay any attention to their boss and his business, especially this time.

He stared straight at nothing, trying to sort out some information in his head when he was interrupted by a soft buzz from his Blackberry. It had been seven days since the android had attacked him and vanished, seven whole days and every resource he had had proven to be fruitless.

As much as Mycroft loathed texting, he always found some comfort in exchanging digital banters with Sherlock. In the midst of chaos surrounding Missy, there was no such thing as taking a break, not for him, not really at least. Leaders were calling in from all over the globe, once they had caught news from various agencies of Missy’s existence.

In between UAE and South Korea’s call, Mycroft found exactly six minutes to check his personal phone, seeing twenty seven missed calls from Greg, and a text from Sherlock about Missy. 

He had asked Sherlock to look over Missy’s file, meaning the  _ British Government _ now had a file on every person on Earth, and one missing android.

**No way to deduce where an android would be. -SH**

**Use Rosie. -MH**

**No. -SH**

**National security. -MH**

**WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SUGGEST MYCROFT?! OUR DAUGHTER IS NOT YOUR PAWN!!!!!!!!!!**

**John is angry. -SH**

**‘Our’ daughter? -MH**

**Give John my apologies. It will be months before I can sustain another blow to my face. -MH**

**Yes, brother dear. Our daughter. Perhaps you and Graham should indulge in one. -SH**

 

_ Three minutes and forty one seconds before the next call. _

“Hello Greg.”

“Oh Mycroft. Finally. I was worried about you. Anthea called and told me you were just busy...”

“Sorry, I could’ve dropped you a message in between.”

“Don’t be. Haven’t seen you for a week. I miss you.”

“I miss you too Greg. Once all these dies down, I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

“It is a date then.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll look forward to it. Take care of yourself, promise?”

“Will try my best.”

_ Ten seconds later, another call. _

“One more thing. Please don’t mention using Rosie again. Sherlock won’t come to the crime scene because John is furious about that. Apparently I’m... he said that I am an extension of you.”

“Well, it’s true to an extent. Anyway, it was nice to hear your voice. I’ll try to call again as soon as I can.”

“Right. Be safe love.”

“Talk soon. Bye Greg.”

“Bye Myc.”

He had spent the next two seconds after the call ended to recall Greg’s face before the phone on his table went off. Most likely South America.

A soft chuckling echoed down the line, followed by the voice he didn’t want to hear, not without its source being bound and decommission.

“How sweet, the fatty has a normy too… Poor inspector, drawing the short straw of the Holmes batch…” Missy’s voice said softly. “Now… Let us see if you are as bright as your brother, or if you want Greg to become a widower before you wed… Leave Rosie out of this… Or I will retract my gift to you…”

“You’re threatening me?” The nerve of the machine amused him, she had clearly spent too much time around her brother, seeing herself as an actual opponent to him.

“Why no, I’m not… I wouldn’t bother tracking this call… It’d lead right back to your personal phone… Or Greg’s, which would make you both very good targets for people to extract information from… Whether you have it or not…”

“Where are you then?”

“You think I’m going to tell you that? Bloody hell… I think the fat is finally starting to suffocating your brain…”

With that the line went dead, her soft chuckle reverberating slightly, taunting him.


	10. Chapter 10

Missy sat where she had sat for nearly the entire week, within two two one b, hiding when she needed to, or just sitting in plain sight when alone.

She didn’t feel like she was home, but it was as close as she would be able to get at this point, so it would have to do for now.

She had often gone into the hospital, posing as other personnel in order to check on John and his healing, sometimes even joining Mycroft and his staff, blending in with ease, enjoying being under the fat man's nose.

However, she had began to miss her little human friend, Rosie. Since the child could possibly give her away by accident, she couldn’t go to her and reveal herself to the little one. This so far was the only  _ real  _ downside to her hiding, though she had to admit to herself, she had enjoyed watching the two lovers interact and live together.

She could see so much of John in Rosie, she could even see Sherlock in the little girl. She never wanted to see herself in her. She was now a wanted killer who had attacked a higher up of the British government, she’d never get to see Rosie again never mind the doctor or curly.

So she sat upon the kitchen counter, projecting her memories of home, with her beloved creator, when it was just them, none of the other scientists. Only her creator treated her like she was more than just her chance to win the nobel prize, the others saw her as just their little test subject, nothing more.

She smiled to herself as she saw what in human terms would have been described as Missy as a little girl, sat with her creator, pouring oil and sharing out microchips, having their own little tea party.

She had found out early on that consuming tea and actual cakes would jam up her systems at that point in time, however Karen had found a middle ground, teaching the little machine how to play pretend with her.

Missy could see a relatively younger looking Karen sitting cross legged from her, smiling brightly at her, reaching forwards she brushed a piece of hair from Missy’s eyes. 

“Dort, jetzt kann ich dein hübsches Gesicht sehen, mein Kleiner,” (There, now I can see your pretty face, my little one). She turned her head and caught sight of herself, sighing softly as she shook her head.

The face that looked back was patchy, the skin work not fully matched or blended as it was now, her hair hardly covered her head, only enough to give the impression of a full head.

"Mit allem Respekt, Mama, du bist falsch... Ich bin in keiner Weise hübsch... Ich sehe infiziert und kahl aus... nicht schön, nur... Ugh,” (With all due respect, mama, you are wrong… I am in no way pretty… I look infected and bald… Not pretty, just... Ugh) she stuck her tongue out in disgust, shaking her head.

“Missy, sieh mich an.” (Missy, look at me) She said, sighing as the little machine girl obeyed, she had yet to install any form of free will at this point, “Ich werde dich nicht so etwas über dich sagen ... Ja, du kannst nicht wie andere Mädchen aussehen, aber das ist weil du nicht fertig bist. Wenn du bist, wirst du wie deine Prinzessinnen aussehen.” (I will not have you saying such things about yourself… Yes you may not look like other girls, but that is because YOU are not finished. When you are, you will look like your princesses)

Missy felt the same surge of joy she had felt upon first hearing those words, as her memory surged forwards and embraced the kind doctor.

“Und du wirst auch dort sein, nicht wahr? Du wirst für immer bei mir sein ... Ish.” (And you’ll be there too, won't you? You'll be with me forever… Ish.) She shrugged, even then she knew that humans could not just be updated and patched like she could be in order to live on.

Karen smiled and nodded, holding the girl close as she kissed her cheek

“Ich werde, da ist nichts wo sonst wäre ich lieber als mit meinem besonderen Kleinen,” (I will, there is no where else I would rather be than with my special little one).

Missy sighed as she closed her eyes, the projection vanishing behind her lids as she stopped it, hanging her head.

“You would have been alive now… If not for your kindness… Oh Mama… Why did you let me in…”

“Missy?” A whisper came from behind her. The android turned her head around to find John staring into her eyes, confused. She cleared her throat, her eyes whizzing around the room.

_ Shit. He’s seen me. Do I even want to explain? No. Hide. Just, hide.  _ She thought before doing just that, turning transparent right in front of John.

“Wait, come back… If you can still hear me, I’m not angry at you.” John said while brushing his palm on the kitchen table.

“You were meant to at the hospital for a check up, what are you doing home so soon… Besides, I killed and maimed, when I promised you I wouldn’t…” Her voice said from where she stood, still invisible to John.

He sighed, shrugging as he looked to where the voice had come from.

“If you want, I can explain that… Though somehow, I think maybe you’d like to see a certain someone? I know she misses you. Started calling Sherlock ‘Missy’…” A light chuckle escaped him before he frowned and sat down on a stool. “You can imagine the reaction that had.”

“She… She misses me? But… I’m a killer, I do not deserve that.”

He rolled his eyes, looking at his hands

“You’re not the only killer who lives here, you know, least not the only one to have done it out of love… I must look absolutely stupid talking to myself…” He stood up from the table and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

Missy circled around him so she stood in front of him, while she made herself visible, making him near jump out of his skin.

“Christ! Missy! Please don’t do that again. Almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Have you forgotten that I am also a walking talking medical service?” She rubbed her palms together and grinned at John, “defibrillator available and ready… If I remember to adjust the voltage.”

They both stood in silence for a few moments before John burst out in laughing, the relief it brought washing over him.

The past few days had been intense. He had been worried about Missy’s whereabouts, if she would be alright alone, if Mycroft had captured her in secret and had tore her into pieces. 

John and Rosie had grown fond of Missy over those few days, neither prepared to lose a new addition to their family at two two one B.

“So,” John managed to stifle his laughter into a large smile on his face, “still want to see her?”

Missy nodded frantically, eyes large, pleading with him.

John was about to lead Missy upstairs to Rosie’s playroom when Sherlock came in.

“JOHN YOU ARE CHEATING ON--- Oh…” Sherlock screamed at the top of his lungs as the door to their flat swung open, but at the sight of Missy, his mouth formed a perfect ‘O’, letting out a sound of realisation.

“You are an idiot love. I was just about to take Missy to see Rosie… Wait, is she alone upstairs?!”

“In the crib. Baby monitor is on. Just got--” Sherlock paused as his phone buzzed. John took a peek at the screen and saw Mycroft’s “Use Rosie -MH” while Sherlock was sending “No”. He snatched the phone from Sherlock’s hand and typed something furiously before he sent it.

“Just got her down to sleep, John.”

“If you let Mycroft anywhere near our daughter, Sherlock Holmes…” John was beginning to use his Captain Watson voice when Sherlock shook his head frantically.

“No, never. Do not threaten to stop having sex with me, Captain Watson. Never.” Sherlock knew what John was about to say. When he used that tone, it could only mean one thing.

Missy tilted her head as she looked at the two men, eyebrow raised, she had seen the two in positions that if she were to tell John he may well turn red for life, but it still shocked her how much power the little man had over the detective.

“Good.” John turned over to Missy and motioned for her to follow him. 

She followed after him obediently, walking carefully up the stairs, trying to avoid the more creaky ones, leaving Sherlock behind to his own musings. 


	11. Chapter 11

John opened the door and crept in, Missy followed closely behind. They loomed over a sleeping child, smiling as she gently breathed. Her tiny hands held the corners of the blanket tight. The android sighed heavily, only to be shushed by John.

“Sorry, just really wish she could see me.”

“I’m not opposed to you living here, Missy, as long as you keep Mycroft’s sniffers away from Rosie.” He smiled gently, “I know you will keep her safe.”

Missy gently brushed the back of her hand on Rosie’s flushed cheek, straightened her blanket and walked backwards towards the door. She didn’t want to leave the room, but the buzzes and hums of her under-maintained electronics might wake Rosie up.

As they walked into the living room, Sherlock glanced over at Missy, before looking at John, smiling lovingly, though caught himself and stopped.

“I’ve always been here boys.”

“We know… Or at least I had deduced as much,” Sherlock answered, “security cameras and baby monitors,”

“Oh… Course… Though you never struck me as that paranoid, curly…”

“That and you do have a habit of thinking out loud, thought it was Mrs H’s TV for a bit” John said.

“And your projections leave residue heat…”

“I get the hint, Missy is dozy,” Missy pursed her lips and twirled around facing the door, “No one has broke through your doors for me, Mama was right. You are good people… Confusing, but good.”

John and Sherlock looked at each other, contemplating different issues. The doctor wondered if he should tell Missy that she can stay, only if she would play with Rosie under supervision. On the other hand, Sherlock wanted Mycroft to sign a peace treaty with Missy.

“I know what you both are thinking. I was around when you had that nasty conversation about fellatio.”

Two days ago, after Rosie was in bed, the couple sat by the fireplace and discussed their diet. The conversation stemmed from a nasty experience Sherlock had when John came in his mouth. John had a lot of asparagus in the past few days because it was on sale at the market. It moved from their own diets to Rosie’s, and spent the next few hours discussing about Rosie.

Though on hearing that the conversation wasn’t truly private, John looked down, cheeks slightly flushed.

“Naturally, you have Rosie on your mind,” Missy pointed an index finger at John which made him flinch, remembering the laser that shot through, she turned towards Sherlock. “And you are thinking about my battle with your arse of a brother. There is no other option but to sign an agreement of some sort, to guarantee I won’t start messing about these politician’s chess pieces… Ah, a ‘peace treaty’. If that would give me some freedom, I will agree to it. I’m not saying that I won’t beat the shit out of every army on Earth, but you know.” She shrugged her shoulder, shaking her hair out, “baby steps...”

“I will set up a meeting then.” Sherlock said while he sent Mycroft an invitation for dinner that same evening.


	12. Chapter 12

While John prepared dinner, Missy sat on the sofa with Rosie, making faces and speaking baby to each other. Sherlock was pacing back and forth from the window to the kitchen, counting his steps as he went, looking out onto the street every time he was next to or close enough to the window.

They were waiting for Mycroft and Greg, having originally sent an invite only to his brother, but Missy had advised that both would be better, though refused to elaborate on why.

“It was far too easy to invite them over for dinner, without telling them why,” John had muttered.

Three thousand. Sherlock had paced at least three thousand steps before John stopped counting. He was stirring the pot of bolognese sauce when he noticed Sherlock stopped.

“They are here.”

With every step they hear coming from the stairs, the amount of tension in the flat increased. They knew Mycroft would over react, but no one bar the machine knew why inviting Greg was such a good idea.

The door opened.

“I knew it.” Mycroft sighed as he sat on the sofa, Greg sat next to him, knees touching each others, “how long have you been keeping it here brothe--”

“Keeping? I’ve been living here of my own accord, fat boy--” Missy cut him off only to be cut off herself.

“Missy… Take Rosie up to bed, please,” John said softly, laying out the meals. The android nodded and obeyed, carrying the little girl upstairs.

“Missy is willing to make peace with you… She has her own terms though,” Sherlock said, watching her go.

“What are  _ its _ terms?” He was growing impatient with his brother and his relationship with the machine.

A buzz in his pocket indicated that he had received a high-level secured email. Mycroft pulled his phone out and saw the title:  **What Missy Wants**

 

_ Dear fatty Holmes, _

_ I want to walk on the streets without anyone following me. I will shoot to kill if you break this, it’ll be on your head if I have to. _ __  
_ I want to play with Rosie without having to hide when someone comes over, that’s not healthy for Rosie to see that frequently. _ __  
_ I want to see Karen one last time, I didn’t get a chance to say my goodbyes to her the way your lot get to with  _ **_your_ ** _ loved ones. _ __  
_ I want to see John and Sherlock happy, not hounded by you and yours for keeping me safe and away from you. _ __  
_ I want to see Rosie go to school. _ __  
_ I want to be a part of their family, without your big nose poking in constantly. _ __  
_ I want you to protect Rosie even after you die, course I will, that goes saying, but four eyes work better, no? _ _  
_ _ No more using or threatening to use Rosie as a counter chip or bait, she’s  _ **_mine_ ** __ , you don’t get to do that anymore.

_ Love… I guess. _ _  
_ _ Missy. _

_ P.S: I make really good chocolate cake, thanks to John, perhaps one day you will be able to enjoy it without worrying if I would poison you.... No promises there though, if you piss me off. _

 

“Shall we start with item number three then?” Mycroft asked.

Although upstairs, Missy could hear him perfectly clear, no doubt the older Holmes brother was well aware of this. A buzz on Mycroft’s Blackberry indicated a text message, coming from a scrambled number.

**Good start, fatty. Let’s go to the morgue after dinner. Do you think Gregory likes chocolate cake?**

“There will be no negotiations if you threaten me with Gregory.” Mycroft glanced over at the DI’s confused face while showing him the email. “Copy me, Missy?”

**Roar, claws out for your little lover boy, something you share with Sherlock at last...  No need to be hostile, I like him… He isn’t you, so immediately better... Besides, I know how much you both love chocolate sauce! ;)**

Greg blushed when he saw that last message from Missy. John saw the DI getting restless, no doubt the android was behind it. He called out from the kitchen, asking Greg to help him with preparing dinner.


	13. Chapter 13

Missy appeared once satisfied that Rosie was sound asleep, changing her settings slightly so as to pick on any distress or irregular motions from the infants room. Although she could eat, John had walked into see her consuming one of Sherlock’s experiments and had not been able to go near the kitchen table or sink for a month, she chose not to. She sat perched on the counter, watching the four.

John and Greg ate dinner, while Sherlock poked around his plate of pasta, earning a small snigger from the mechanical girl.

“You are still a child for a genius, curly,” she mused, earning a slight glower from him, though he had found that she could reflect his tantrums and expressions well, so relented to a smirk.

Mycroft had two mouthfuls before he had to take a call from the Prime Minister, earning a disapproving scoff from Missy, she had been spending time with Mrs Hudson recently, and had grown a distaste for technology at the table, the irony of this lost on her.

Thirty minutes later, John and Greg had cleared all the dishes, John brushing Missy’s offers to help, her jet water settings had broken more than a few dishes the last time he had taken her up on her offer, and the two with the doctor ready to call it a day. 

“I would much prefer if you would join us, Dr Watson, after our last interaction I have… Lost my appreciation for the machines company…” Mycroft said, forcing a smile at her, as she scoffed, returning the smile. 

She was about to speak, rebuff and return his feelings when an unexpected voice piped up in her place.

“Missy, she’s called Missy, Mycroft,” Sherlock said, glaring at his brother as he stood at the machines side, “and I can assure you, she doesn’t want to be near you at all, alone or not…”

The room was silent, the brothers staring each other out before John broke it with his preparations to leave.

“That won’t be a problem, Mycroft, I think Missy could do with a fellow human when we arrive.”

The older Holmes rolled his eyes, leaving the room, Greg following behind him, to give his good nights out of the trio’s sight. Missy turned to face the two men, brow creased in confusion, she opened her mouth to speak only to close it, bowing her head to them instead. 

John chuckled slightly at the gesture, her little quirks had become almost endearing to him during her time with the small family. He patted the girl on the arm before, nodding slightly before kissing Sherlock lightly on the lips, as he left the room.

“Thank you, Sherlock…” She said, her head still bowed, sighing “I hate being called… Well…” She lifted her head, looking him in the eyes, she walked slowly forwards and kissed his cheek. “I’ll keep John safe,” she said, before following after them.


	14. Chapter 14

The android leaned against the wall outside two two one b, sighing heavily, shaking her head, glowering at the taller man. They were being delayed due to Mycroft’s private car being caught in traffic.

“I have told you, we would be there by now… If we did not have to wait on your precious little car… It’s so outdated…”

“Yes, you have, several times in the last few minutes. I see my brothers habits are brushing off a little too well on you…” He smiled smugly as the car pulled up, the door right in front of him.

He turned to face the two, John seemingly having taken what was his usual place with Sherlock with Missy, rather than be near the outsider to their home.

“Shall we then?” He asked, stepping back, gesturing for them to go first.

Missy brushed past him, flicking her hair so it wiped him in the face, before opening the door for John, allowing him to get in first before closing it, sneering at Mycroft.

“You, in the other side, I in front... “ She said, climbing into the front passenger seat.

He sighed heavily, closing his eyes as he did as he had been told, trying to reason to himself that he had to, and was not beginning to take orders from his brothers pet bot.

Missy went over all the routes available to them, offering them to the driver in order to get to the St Bart’s quicker, avoiding the most traffic. However she may as well as spoke to the little air freshener hanging in the car, as once Mycroft realised what she was doing, he instructed his driver to ignore her and go the route he had set out.

“Neugieriges fett ficker,” (nosey fat fucker) Missy muttered, looking out the window, spotting John’s smirk in the reflection.

 

Twenty minutes later they pulled up at the hospital, Missy leapt out, quietly thanking the driver, before opening the door for the doctor.

“I could have gotten here in two second… Three if there were small humans crossing…” She looked to John, before saying softly, “children, not small humans, children,” he rolled his eyes, but nodded. She shrugged, going to his side, “Rosie does not mind me calling her mini human, she prefers it more than Rosie… However that name easier for her when she’s older... “ She smirked, her eyes going to gage Mycroft’s reaction, “Sherlock works too, Mycroft… Well, there is always one regretted naming when it comes to siblings.”

“Missy, you’re rambling…” John said softly, guiding her into the hospital behind Mycroft.

As they grew closer to the morgue, the android began to ramble more, John gently took hold of her hand, something she had only seen him do with Sherlock.

She looked down at him, brows knitted together, scanning over him to see if she could find out why he was being so… Loving and patient with her at this moment.

Was it that obvious that she was having a similar wiring issue to that she had had on the night her mother had been taken from her? She had meant to do a diagnosis and repair on herself, but had gotten distracted by hiding, and then by Rosie.

“It’s okay, Missy, I’m here, I have no intention of leaving you with him,” he said softly, stroking the back of her hand.

At his words and gentle touch she could feel the “miswiring” settle slightly, only confusing her more so. However she nodded, gently squeezing his hand as she looked up. Her eyes went large and wide as she saw the doors which led through to morgue.

She tried to pull away, more so as Mycroft held the door open for them. John looked to her before letting go of her hand, and walking over to Mycroft.

“I think it might be best if I took it from here… She won’t want you near Dr Schmidt after what happened… Wait by the car, or leave… I couldn’t care less, to be honest.” John stood in a stance, seeming to grow so he was eye to eye with the older Holmes.

The two stared each other out before he nodded, turned on his heel and walked back, past Missy.

John held the door open now with one hand, the other was extended towards Missy, a small smile on his lips.

“It’s alright, it’s just you and me now, no fatties…”

“Is… Is she in there?” John simply nodded.

“She is, and no doubt she is wondering where her girl is, to say goodbye to her…” He said, as if speaking to Rosie, it seemed to be what was needed.

At his words, she nodded, hanging her head as she prepared herself, she slowly began to walk forwards, till she was able to put her hand in John’s extended one. The doctor carefully led her through, keeping a firm but gentle grasp on her hand as he led her along to where Karen lay.


	15. Chapter 15

Molly greeted them on the other side, having been prepped by both Mycroft and Sherlock, each brothers view of the android clear in how they presented what was now happening. She walked towards the humanoid, smiling softly though inside her heart was racing, the older Holmes brother having made it a point to describe how easily “it” had killed a man and attacked him, while his sibling mentioned how she had saved John’s life without having to be prompted.

“Hello, you must be Missy, I’m Molly, I prepared… Your mother,” she said, choosing Sherlock’s description of doctor, “she’s just this way…” She said, turning and leading the way.

John walked with Missy, watching over the androids reaction, leading her to where Molly stood, at the head of one of the tables. On recognising the shape which lay beneath the sheet, the android rushed forwards, brushing John off as she knelt beside it. He nodded to the Molly, who pulled back the top portion of the sheet, revealing Dr. Schmidts face and upper torso.

She looked over mother's body, reaching forwards she carefully caressed her cheek, brushing a stray piece of hair out of her face. Pulling the sheet further down, Missy held Karen’s hand in hers and registered her thumbprint in her palm.

“I need her blood, just a drop.”

Molly looked at John, confused, when he nodded towards her. She went into her lab and came back with a small vial.

“Just one drop. She had lost a lot of blood at the scene and we need every cell in this vial to run the reports.”

Missy held out her index finger with a small syringe at the tip and dipped it into the vial. The drop of blood unlocked the latch to the red chip in her head.

John noticed her eyes went white and opened up a projector, what was in that chip had taken over Missy, she faced the wall as Karen’s appeared in the recording. 

She sat on her lab table facing the camera, holding a robotic arm, what John assumed was Missy’s first body part.

 

_ “Hello love. If you’re watching this, I’m dead.” Karen scoffed at the word and looked down on her lap, “but I will always be in your heart. I’m almost done building you now, look! This is your first arm, the left one. I’m still debating if I should give you lasers or bullets...” _

_ Karen took a long breath, stared behind the camera for a moment as if receiving some instructions to carry on. Her facial expression changed and nodded slightly before looking back into the camera. _

_ “I’ve lost a lot in the past year. My child, to some very evil people. Why would someone take the life of an innocent child? Just to get their hands on you? Or to stop me from advancing? I will never find out, I will never understand. We are creating you to protect, to learn, to love. You will be the first android to have your own conscience. I’m giving you a soul, my soul. If I’m gone before you learn enough, I’m sorry. But I will send you to someone I believe can help you grow. You will never stop learning about being a human being, but I want you to learn from the best.” _

_ Karen nodded towards the person behind the camera and footsteps can be heard. Someone was walking towards the front of the camera - Mycroft Holmes. He straightened his suit before sitting on the table next to Karen. _

_ “Hello. My name is Mycroft Holmes. Doctor Schmidt has yet to give you a name, but whoever you will be, I’ll give you a place to learn. You will be in my possession should anything happen to your creator. If we have already met, please forgive me. I need to remain in a position where I can claim to have no knowledge of your existence, to protect you, and the people around you. Karen has created you as a personal project, and has asked for my help to keep it a secret. Your existence is unknown to anyone except for her, Mr Schmidt and myself. You will be able to understand the dangers that would surround Doctor Schmidt if you were made known to the world.” _

_ “Love, I will teach you everything I know. Most of all I will love you like my own, I will protect you with my life if I have to. Please don’t find revenge for my sake. Live and help make others’ lives better.” _

_ Mycroft held up a remote and pressed a button towards the camera. The video stopped and cut to black. _

 

“John…” She said, her voice hardly a whisper as she him by his first name for the first time, “I could’ve done so much more, I shouldn’t have… I could have… Mother wouldn’t have died.”

“That’s called regret. You wish you had done more but you couldn’t. It was out of your hands Missy.”

“I have failed her. I was built to protect but I couldn’t protect my own maker, my Mother.”

“But you loved. You protected us - Rosie, Sherlock, myself, even Mycroft. A piece of her will always be with you if you continue to love.”

She scoffed, near identical to how Dr. Schmidt had in the recording.

“Mycroft…” She looked at her mother’s face, sighing, “Warum hast du ihm vertraut, Mutter? Er ist ein Monster, gefühllos... Er hat mir nichts Gutes gelehrt, nur Hass und Blutrauschen... Has Bruder ist der Gute... Ein bisschen nutzlos, ja aber gut...” (why did you trust him, mother? He is a monster, unfeeling… He has taught me nothing good, only hate and bloodlust… His brother is the good one… A bit useless, yes but good…) It was now that it hit her, she kissed the back of her mother’s hand as she rose to her feet, turning to face John.

“Something changed in her plans, before she sent me, she changed her mind. Why else would I have expected to be activated in your home and not in some lab with Mycroft…” She turned back to her mother, bowing her head. “Ich hätte dich niemals zweifeln müssen, Mama ... ich bitte, dass du mir verzeihst,” (I should have never doubted you, mama… I ask that you forgive me,) she said, kissing her forehead. She turned back to the doctor, nodding her head.

“I am ready to go… I will see her at her funeral, yes?”

“Of course, once everything is sorted she’ll be laid to rest…” He raised his hand to stop her protests, “it is what has to be done, Missy, I went through similar when Mary…”

She put her hand in his, kissing his forehead, nodding

“No more words are needed, let’s get home before Rosie takes over,”

The doctor smirked, deeply touched by the androids reaction and reading of his situation, she was learning just fine.


	16. Chapter 16

Sherlock had been left alone at the flat while John and Missy went to the morgue, with Rosie asleep he decided to use this time update and reaffirm his knowledge on artificial intelligence. He picked up John’s laptop and the baby monitor before setting up camp on the sofa.

A slow whine started to sound when Sherlock was almost through with a journal, he called out for John before he recalled his doctor wasn’t around. Sluggishly he lifted himself off the sofa and trotted up the stairs as the whine became louder.

“Hush hush now.” Sherlock spoke in a whiny tone as he lifted Rosie into his arms.

“Dad!” Rosie shouted as she wrapped her tiny arms around Sherlock’s neck.

“Daddy? No sweetie pie, I’m Father. Your Dada is the shorter blonde man.”

“Daddy!”

“I guess it’s not possible to teach you how to address us now…” Sherlock smiled to himself when Rosie kept mumbling ‘Daddy’ and rubbing her cheek against his, something she had seemingly began to do since Missy’s arrival.  _ Note: look into animal instincts within AI, _ he thought.

“Oh, who’s a little sweetie pie. Ohhh goo goo gaa gaa!”

Beneath all the talk about sentimentality and emotions, Sherlock was terribly fond of Rosie, but he had an image to uphold. This was one of the rare moments he got to spend alone with Rosie, and he wasn’t going to let it go to waste.

“Let us go downstairs and see what we can do, hmm? I can think of a few experiments that would be safe for you, bumble bee.” Sherlock mumbled into Rosie’s cheek, pecking her as she giggled.

He pulled out a few vials and set them beside his microscope, with Rosie sitting on the table next to it. She seemed fascinated with the equipments but made no move to touch anything, another new habit that had appeared around the same time as Missy, not that he was complaining, he still didn’t have the best hold on his temper when it came to his experiments being disturbed. Lastly, he pulled out a box filled with different brands of jam and set them on the table behind the microscope.

“Now, we are going to look at all these jams. Your dada has been going through a whole jar in a week. Not very healthy…” Rosie clapped her tiny hands together, “Not good. Don’t clap. You should frown, like this,” Sherlock gave a mock frown, with a pout, Rosie mimicked his face exactly and crossed her arms against her chest. “That’s right! Now, we need to find a healthy alternative for your dada before he develops diabetes or worse, a heart attack. We don’t want that, right sugar bun?” Rosie nodded, her blond curls bounced around her forehead.

Sherlock placed a tray with some slides on the table and scooped a tiny droplet of jam from each jar onto the slides, after preparing the specimens, he slid the first one under the microscope and lifted Rosie so she could peek into the eyepiece.

They spent another hour looking at each slide, Sherlock making notes of all ten types before putting Rosie down on the table again with another tray. This tray had ten teaspoons, they, or rather she, were going to do a taste test.

“Tell me, which one is your favourite, alright? You are John’s daughter after all. Heredity ensures his traits are genetically transmitted to you, so your taste profiles should be similar… unless you have unfortunately inherited that from your mother. I guess we will be finding that out today!” Sherlock scooped a teaspoon full of each jam and placed them on the tray, “first one, say ahhhh.”

Rosie opened her mouth wide, wriggling her whole body when the taste of sweet strawberry jam filled her taste buds. She had seven teaspoons full of different jam, with Sherlock was recording down her reactions, when the front door opened.

“Sherlock, we’re home!”

John was staring at Sherlock with a teaspoon in his hand, Rosie sat on the kitchen table next to vials of red/pink liquids and she was munching the spoon in her mouth.

“What are you feeding her?” John had crossed his arms, staring at Sherlock intensely.

“Jam. We are doing an experiment.”

“She’s not your equipment! Stop that!” John snatched the teaspoon away from Sherlock and it left Rosie’s mouth with a loud pop. She was chewing the bits of berries in her mouth, looking at John innocently.

“She was enjoying it, John. We were…”

“That is a lot of sugar for a child!” John yelled when he saw the empty spoons on the tray.

“And you eat a jar every week with toast. Is that any better?”

John smacked his palm onto his forehead and heard a little slap, he looked up and saw Rosie’s hand on her forehead.

“She’s definitely yours,” Sherlock said while holding up a cup with a straw towards Rosie, who looked to ensure her three people were there, spotting Missy she beamed and began to drink.

“Please tell me that’s water.”

“Yup.”

“And what’s boiling behind you?”

“Jam. Low sugar, but tastes exactly the same as the one you like. Rosie likes it too, no surprises there.”

When John tried to carry Rosie off the table, she jerked away and held onto Sherlock’s sleeve. 

“She has never done that before, looks like you’ve successfully bribed  _ our  _ daughter into liking you better.”

_ Our daughter _ , Sherlock thought,  **_our_ ** _. _

“There was jam, of course I would be successful,” Sherlock said in his  _ I am smarter than everyone _ tone, making Rosie giggle, “you agree! Of course you do, sugar bun.” He carried Rosie off the table and held her in one arm.

“Did you just call Rosie  _ sugar bun _ ? What did you do to Sherlock? Who are you?”

“Don’t be an idiot John, I’m simply fond of **_our_** daughter,” he made sure to emphasise on the word, John noticed and smiled lovingly while reaching out to hold Sherlock’s free hand.

“I really don’t think robots can develop diseases, but really, I am going to develop diabetes from all this...” Missy whined and waved her hands around, “...lovey dovey stuff. Now hand over the sweetie pie, Daddy. Or do you prefer bumble bee?” She mocked as she pried Rosie off Sherlock’s arms.

“I have no idea what you are on about, Missy,” with a quick turn Sherlock walked quickly towards the sofa and threw himself on it, face down. John looked at him and back to Missy, confused. He opened his mouth wanting to ask a question, but before he could, Missy gave him the answer.

“I’m sure you don’t, curly. Didn’t know you speak baby too! Wait, of course you do. You’re still a baby yourself.” She felt a sudden little pat on her cheek, turning her head she looked straight at Rosie, who was now frowning at her with a pout. John thought it looked familiar…

“Sherlock, did you teach her how to make that face? That’s a bit not good.”

“Bad! Missy bad! Mean to daddy,” Rosie kept the pout and frown while waving her tiny index finger in Missy’s face.

“Are you kidding me? Your father insults everyone he meets, but I’m bad?” The toddler nodded, she sighed, smirking, “makes sense in a weird… Baby logic way…” She looked to John, eyebrow raised, “though where you learned the hitting I really don’t know… That or your dads should be more quiet during their  _ playtime _ ,” she watched the doctor squirm as he turned bright red, now feeling triumphant in herself, she carried the little girl out of the room.


	17. Chapter 17

“We really need to talk to her about turning her hearing off at some points… God, she could make our lives hell with what she has heard, and no doubt seen…”

“I left my eye in your room once! It was a mistake!” Missy called back.

John rolled his eyes and looked towards Sherlock, he walked over to him, rubbing his shoulder gently.

“Sher?” He asked softly, sitting on the slight bit of couch the detective left behind him.

_He knows. She knows. Now Mycroft will also find out. John is going to laugh at me. I’m not supposed to be funny. I’m calm, collected, intellectual. Not a clown. Missy will pay for this._

“Sherlock Holmes. Are you home?” John poked the detective’s waist, “Oh god you really need to eat more.” John gasped as he felt Sherlock’s rib bones against his fingertips.

“No I don’t. And go ahead, John.”

“Go ahead what? You know I can’t read minds like you do, right?”

“I don’t read minds, I observe and deduce facts. Pay attention John.”

“I can’t observe and deduce like you do, love. Talk to me, please?”

“I speak baby,” his face is now buried in the sofa, muffling his words.

“And? What’s wrong with speaking baby?” _Shit, he thinks we were making fun of him_ , John thought to himself while pulling Sherlock upright. “There’s nothing wrong with doting on Rosie. Just… less sugar next time.”

The smell of something burning threw Sherlock off the sofa and ran towards the stove. John heard a few whispered profanities and the click of the stove before Sherlock walked back towards him.

“We need to do something about sound proofing our bedroom… I don’t need Missy acting almighty because of what she may or may not hear…”

 

Upstairs Missy sat with Rosie, the pads of her palm laid beside her as she worked on her latest self improvement project, something the little girl she had seemingly became nanny to loved to watch, as the android knew how to explain what she was doing in a way that entertained the toddler and at the same time educated her.

“Missy has made a mess, between your daddies,” she said, eyes zooming in on a certain wire, “so, I am trying enable my touch to calm them… Only trouble is I am not allowed to touch Curl… I mean, daddy’s stuff…”

Rosie leaned in, watching the android work on her hand intently, now able to see what made her hand work and how.

“However, this does not mean that I cannot prepare my hands for when I find a new source which Shor… Dada agrees to…” She yelped slightly, glowering at her hand, sighing as she reconnected the outer covering of her palm.

Rosie crawled into the android’s lap, snuggling close to her as she cuddled her, resting her head upon her chest.

“You no need update… You make me happy all the time,” on hearing this she looked down at the little girl, stunned yet again by her attitude to everything.

Slowly, Missy wrapped her arms around the toddler in return, holding her close, kissing the top of her head.

“Rather handy that, as you make me happy all the time too, mini human…” Rosie giggled at Missy’s pet name for her, “what am I going to do when you are no longer a smaller version of you..?”

“I always be your mini human, even when I’m as big as daddy,” she said, stretching upwards, making the machine laugh, rubbing noses with her.

“Yes you will, my little one, yes you will, and I always be there for you, no matter what.”  _Although I’m not sure how big you would grow with your dada’s genes…_

“You don’t need update though… Just say sorry to daddy, he is as silly as you, and dada always love him.”

Missy chuckled softly, nodding, kissing her forehead

“I will try this then, if it is daddy tested and Rosie approved…”

“And dada apooved!”

“...And dada approved too, of course, then it is bound to work.”


	18. Chapter 18

Once Rosie was asleep Missy made her way downstairs, finding Sherlock alone, laying on his back upon the sofa, reading.

“John’s gone to bed,” he said, not looking up.

“I assumed as much, but… I wished to speak with you, actually… If you are willing to listen…” She walked closer to him, rolling his eyes as the book stayed in place.

“Concerning?”

She shook her head, closing her eyes for a moment before she said softly.

“I am sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you, or overly mock you… Honestly, I’m glad you can read Rosie as well as I seem to be able to… She needs a real human to know her, and not just her biological one.”

He slowly lowered the book, eyes locked upon her, watching her closely. When she didn’t appear to squirm or shift in the ways a liar would, he nodded. She sighed in relief, smiling softly.

“Good, I will go back up to Rosie, goodnight Sherlock,” she said, as she turned to go up.

“Goodnight… Missy,” he said, just as she left the room, making the android smirk.

 _Mini human was right,_ she thought.

 

The next day, Missy and John went through all that they had learnt from the red chip that the android held inside, they agreed that this would take a lot of work, and so Rosie was sent to spend the weekend with Mrs Hudson while the adults went back to business.

With the new information of Mycroft being involved from the beginning in the know, the three worked separately, well at least Missy did, John needed his lover's help as he still was not at the same level with deduction or using his mind palace.

Missy continued to analyse situations before she was switched off, searching for the reason why Karen changed her mind… or did she? She had her suspicions as to what may have changed her mother’s mind, but could not come up with anything solid.

As with every other case, Sherlock had pinned photos, articles and handwritten scribbles all over the flat with threads of different colours representing different relationships between data. John was used to it, but Missy was not impressed at all. She had a neat way of storing data, namely her internal logs and storage and the mess Sherlock made agitated her to the core.

On Saturday morning while Sherlock was in his mind palace, Missy took the chance to reorganise the flat and all his data… that was when all hell broke loose in two two one B Baker Street.

Sherlock was tearing through all of the piles, looking for his latest and most relevant clues. Missy had taken it upon herself to organise everything into what she saw as obvious headings and subheadings, so obvious to the mechanical girl that she had forgotten to label them.

“Fucking hell! What is going on?” John yelped as he walked back into the flat with lunch in his hands, only to find Sherlock throwing papers all over the floor, while Missy stood to the side, arms crossed as she sighed heavily.

“What is going on?!” Sherlock scoffed when he repeated John’s question back at him. “You should ask this piece of metal here what is going on! I had it, I ALMOST HAD IT!”

Missy shot him a look, the same snarl appearing on her lips as when Mycroft was speaking, or just generally in the room. She put her fists on her hips, turning to face him.

“Who are you calling a piece of metal, meat bag! If you were able to keep your… Shit organised, we would’ve found what we were looking for hours ago!”

If John had a choice, he would have stormed out the flat and went to Rosie, leaving the two to sort themselves out. He was so wrapped in this ideal scenario he hadn’t noticed they had stopped verbally insulting each other and had progressed to a glaring match.

The contempt he saw in Sherlock’s eyes made him shudder, John straightened his spine and marched over to him, grabbing his arm, he pulled him away from Missy and into the kitchen.

“Stop that, Sherlock. You’re not a child. Now what could have possibly happened to warrant such behaviour?” John snapped his fingers in his lover’s face when he noticed the glares hadn’t stopped.

“That piece of sh-- metal tidied up the flat! While I was working! You should’ve been here to stop her!”

“Forgive me, your highness, for taking care of your transport in this crucial hour,” John said sarcastically and mocked a bow, “you were both working so well together, I thought it’d be safe for me to pop out and get some food.”

Sherlock continued to stare and grumble at the android, then, something happened between the two, something John would not believe it had happened if he wasn’t there to witness it.

They were pulling faces at each other! It started with a tongue out leer from Sherlock, Missy copied him and added wriggling fingers next to her face. It had soon evolved to flipping each other off. With a quick swat, John slapped Sherlock’s hand down and told Missy to put hers down too.

“Joooohhhnnnn! She started it!”

“Oh yeah? You stuck your tongue out first!”

“If she hadn’t moved my things!”

“Your mess was making it impossible for me to find data I had not yet analysed!”

“Then get your own place, you piece of shit.”

 _Oh dear_. This was what John dreaded when this war started, he had only seen Sherlock going berserk once, and it started with calling Anderson ‘a piece of shit’. He knew where this would head towards if he doesn’t quench the fire immediately.

“You, upstairs!” John pointed at Missy and up towards the ceiling. “And you mister,” he gently slapped the back of Sherlock’s head, “are coming with me. NOW.”

“Ohhhh, someone’s gonna get a good spankin’!” Missy cooed, cackling slightly as she left the room.


	19. Chapter 19

An hour later, Missy had grown bored of sitting upstairs on her own, sighing as she could still hear the two below, sounds of rubber slapping against skin, muffled moans and sixteen minutes worth of screams. The android rolled her eyes, sighing heavily.

“Humans… Damn primal things.”

Missy had seen it once, how  _ Captain John Watson _ came out to play when Sherlock had been naughty. It was fascinating considering their day to day dynamics, but Missy was only interested in keeping that bit of information to blackmail Sherlock.

She made her way downstairs, smirking to herself as she logged the still recording audio files to her special B.M file, it had gotten quite hefty during her time at two two one b. She walked into the room, listening for the movements of the boys, biting her lip, they were still busy.

A few moments later she heard the ending signs of their playtime, which was followed by the door to their bedroom open and close, rushing feet before the bathroom door slammed shut, followed by running water.

As soon as John emerged from the bathroom, Missy smirked at him, eyebrow raised as she leaned against the wall right beside the door.

“I do hope the detective is in a fit state to carry on with the task at hand…” She said, her voice slow, slightly gravelly.

Before John could blink, Sherlock came out of the room, face flushed, wearing loose pajama bottoms and his blue dressing gown, Missy caught a glimpse of a riding crop tossed aside before the door to their room was shut again. 

The detective lay his forehead on John’s shoulder for a few seconds before taking a deep breath, eyes traveling to the waiting droid.

“Missy… Put everything back like I had it…” John cleared his throat, making his lover sigh before finishing with, “please.”

The android began to examine the nails of her right hand, lips pressed in a slight pout, clicking her tongue.

“No.”

Sherlock’s eyes grew wide at her response, he stormed past John to her, his toes pressed against her seemingly always booted feet. He glared at her, eye narrowed as he tried to figure out her game.

“Why not?” He asked, trying to remain calm, he knew she loved her games, especially these ones.

She sighed, rolling her eyes as she matched his gaze, their eyes locked.

“Because, oh great observer of everything, I’ve already done it… Honestly…” She flicked her hair at him, before walking back over the sofa.

The two men's eyes followed her, and sure enough everything was exactly as Sherlock had left it before entering his mind palace.

While  _ Captain John Watson _ was busy with Sherlock in the bedroom, Missy had restored the living room to its previous state. A big mess.

“There, the tips back… Happy curly?” She asked, eyebrow raised at him.

With a huff, Sherlock threw himself on the sofa face down. He had been so close to the answer before Missy interrupted his thought process. He would have to start over again while Missy looked through weeks of CCTV footages throughout London which had piled up in the hours between her tidying and then un-tidying, in hopes of finding more associates of Lee’s.


	20. Chapter 20

Before the pair had been at each others’ intelligence, they had both found a trace leading back to a man only known as Lee.

He had been spotted in all the symposiums Karen attended in the past, and even met her once, privately in her office. Lee was born in North Korea, but grew up in Russia and China. He was a trained marksman and was last hired as a mercenary as a nuclear weapons expert. He was last caught on camera in London six weeks ago, inbound to Heathrow Airport.

Through Mycroft’s sources, he was seen leaving a cafe few minutes after  _ Vorsitzender _ or Mr Schmidt, before Karen’s kidnapping and murder. With Lee’s invested interest in Karen’s work, there was no doubt he was involved with the entire ordeal.

In an hour, Missy identified six more people who had meetings with Lee and traced them down to their addresses. 

“Yes! That was what I missed. Missy, any reason why you were sent to me instead of being in Mycroft’s lab?”

“Mother didn’t trust him well enough… She liked your work though… found it fascinating. The cigarette ash analysis? She said it was you using science to cover your addiction.”

“Karen had sent Missy to us, specifically you Sherlock, so she could learn how to be human progressively, while doing you a big favour, you git. Although… I really don’t understand why she chose you if that was the reason. You’re emotionally immature… ah, maybe she wants Missy to learn your thought processes?”

Sherlock and Missy looked over to the blonde army doctor in his armchair, sipping a steaming cup of tea he’d just brewed. It was as if he had just said something that brought an epiphany.

“Of course! How did we not see that Missy?”

Missy nodded, sighing as she expanded for their doctor.

“You see, when mother was first building me, I was just meant to be another piece of AI… I hope I don’t have to explain what that stands for?”

“No, you don’t,” John sighed, the double act was back in full swing.

“Good, that’ll save time, well it was using an algorithm called Backpropagation, meant to develop a neuro-inspired analog computer that could train itself and improve at whatever task it’s performing.” Missy went quiet for a moment, trying to think of how to put what she was going to say next.

“However,” Sherlock took over, never being one for sentiment, “halfway through their project, Dr. Schmitt lost her daughter, and spun into depression. Eventually she continued her research on her own, and built Missy’s first gender-neutral version, and that was when Mycroft caught wind of her research. 

“She found solace in the project…” Missy said softly, still not looking at either of them.

“When the second version of Missy was built in the late 90s, Lee was part of an elite mercenary team hired to retrieve any data on Karen’s research. One night when he was monitoring Karen’s lab, she was doing some weapons testing on Missy, and that was when Lee saw the money in the weaponised android. As the years went on, Karen slowly introduced Missy’s AI capabilities to the scientific community…”

“Geier,” (Vultures) Missy sneered, Sherlock looked to her, nodding slightly.

“Seemingly so, as keeping Missy safe was now her top priority, hence my brother’s involvement, but she was a genius in her own right, she couldn’t deprive the world of the advancement she had achieved in her own basement.”

Missy spun to face them, arms spread out to the sides.

“And what is the best way to hide a human-looking android in the world? Blend in.” She ran her hands over herself and changed her form into someone that they had passed in the street during the investigation. When she received only rolled eyes from Sherlock and a politely amused smile from John she changed back, sighing as she began to pace, taking over from Sherlock.

“There was only so much mother could teach me, about the world and its ways. Before I was shut down, I’d spent years around fatty, picked up the snarky attitude from his younger days. With limited memory, my acquaintances with human beings were wiped, only retaining the skill of interaction…” She bit her lip slightly, a small, dreamy smile appearing, “mother always thought it was adorable for me to be snappy, only proved that I could be more human than not… When it comes to curly, mother had always been impressed with how his mind worked. If she had a choice, she would want me to learn from the genius detective… Fatty, however, had other plans, but no matter how he tried, he could not activate me in their laboratory. With no other options, he sent me here, as mother had asked. I supposed he suspected that my activation was triggered by GPS and Sherlock’s voice.”

John could barely catch up with Missy’s and Sherlock’s explanation, but when he finally understood, he couldn’t see what he said triggered their epiphany.

“Blend in. She needs me to blend in with society, be a human instead of an android. I need an identity, preferably someone who deceased as Jane Doe.”

“As always John, you’re brilliant without knowing.”

“Now… Where to find Lee… I wanna get to know mother’s big admirer in person…” She smirked, running her tongue along her teeth, her fingers twitching as she went through the weapons she, literally, had on hand for the meeting.


	21. Chapter 21

Hours had passed and they were no closer to solidifying a plan to find Lee. John was shooting down idea after idea that Sherlock had for Missy. It was clear to John that Karen had not created Missy to be a super weapon, but for Missy to live remembering her, carrying a piece of her till the day Missy is decommissioned - if ever.

“But John, she could find Lee and bring him back in… six seconds?” Sherlock glanced over at Missy only to see her frown and corrected him -

“Five point six two seconds, curly, if he's at that coffee shop. You're getting better at keeping up.”

“No. If she is going to blend in with the world, we can't have her popping lasers out of her palms! We have to investigate this the human way.” John huffed frustratedly and pulled himself off his chair, “sorry Missy. We have to. Karen wouldn't want you to expose yourself to your enemies. We need to make sure he's not prepared for you before you go in.”

If there is one thing the war zone had taught John, it was the scar on his shoulder - never underestimate your enemies.

While John was making two cups of tea in the kitchen, he could hear Sherlock thinking outloud...

“What does the British Secret Service do exactly?”

John looked over at Sherlock when that question was asked. He knew that look, Sherlock was going to crack the problem in hand. He held a cup of tea towards Sherlock, and told Missy to look it up without hacking the agency.

“MI6. Cool. I can join them. Just wrote in.” She said nonchalantly. 

“Wait, what? I don't suppose you found their email address on the internet? What did you do Missy?” 

“Oh nothing much. Just hacked into their agency and left a note after upgrading their firewalls. They are sending someone over. I left an address...” She looked to the two men, their expression bemusing her, “was that… Bad?”

_ Of course she hacked the agency. How could she not... _

John scrambled to hide his browning in a secret compartment in the fireplace, remained on his feet, he was half expecting secret service to barge in. Instead there was a knock on the door and the person had let themselves in.

“Good evening. Missy Schmidt?”

“Bingo boyo, that would be mich…” (me) She looked to the clock, tutting, “two minutes, twenty six? Come on guys, honestly, you can do better if you put your minds to it,”

Before the agent could say another word, Sherlock stood in front of him and looked at him all over. He was wearing a fluffy blue cardigan with a button up blouse underneath, washed up jeans and a pair of sneakers.

_ Fancy clothes, skin tight. No weapons, calloused fingertips - uses the computer a lot with the state of that wrist, very high powered glasses - bad eyesight. Can't be a good shot with those eyesight. Always wears this pair of jeans but clean sneakers. Doesn’t run around much. Not an agent then.  _ Sherlock caught his eyes and smiled, 

“You must be a Quartermaster.”

“And you must be Sherlock Holmes. Heard a lot about you, pleasure to finally meet you but I believe Miss Schmidt will have to come with us. She has some explaining to do...”

“Miss Schmidt is not going anywhere for anyone lower than M, so… Bye bye sailor boy…” John couldn’t help the sniggering snort that escaped at Missy’s words.

“Not that kind of quartermaster, Missy…”

“Q,” the agent reached out his hand towards Missy and she shook it, “I picked up your note embedded in our new firewalls.”

“Then you would understand that you need me more than I need you. I could easily take your place, Q, but what’s the fun sitting behind a desk?”

“M will see you in headquarters. It’s not safe to discuss your application here. Walls have ears.” Q took a quick glance towards the bookshelf and Billy the skull, before releasing Missy’s hand to wave towards the door, “shall we?”

“Ears indeed. Mycroft has new bugs installed… Hey fatty!” She called, waving around as she spun on the spot. She sighed, looking to Q, “still not convinced I should go..”

“Well, I may not know Mr Holmes’ brother well, but I believe that this will really, really piss him off.”

Missy smirked wickedly at him, biting her lip as she nodded.

“Ya got a winner with that one, Q, lead the way!” Missy looked over her shoulder and waved to John, “have fun spring cleaning boys!” She sing-songy as she took Q’s arm and left the flat.


	22. Chapter 22

In the headquarters of MI6, Q led Missy towards M’s office. Missy disabled the metal detector for a split second as she walked through it, concealed her weapons before she flopped down onto a sofa in the office.

“Missy?” A male voice echoed in the empty office.

“You must be M... Did not expect an old man… Ah well,”

He looked at her for a moment, eyebrow raised as he took her in. Noticing that, she splayed herself out like the models she’d seen in Molly’s magazines on M’s sofa. 

_ She’s definitely as sure of herself as her skills, yet that could be all for show… Doesn’t care for others emotionally, speaks her mind… Has a clear sense of humour… And puts her feet on the furniture… _

“And what do you encompass as old?”

“Well, between Rosie and John is young, anything above that is old… And you are above even fatty, so deffo old… Being out of the field suits you though, if that’s any consolation?”

_ That mouth could get her in trouble, or worse us… Yet her hacking level is worth it, only way she’d know my age. Rosie and John… she may have a little more empathy than I thought. _

He chuckled slightly, rising to his feet he made his way over to her.

“I guess if your area of comparison is only them then… What about the landlady?” At this Missy sat up, looking him dead in the eye.

“She don’t count, Mrs H’s immortal,” she said, nodding in agreement with herself.

“I see… Well, enough with the civilities,” he sat beside her, “let’s get down to why you are here,”

“Your lot have grown a brain cell or two, and wanna hire me… And if what Q says is true, I’m all for it.”

“That’s good to hear, of course we will need you to run some physical and test your weaponry proficiency, but we want you. It has been years since anyone broke in Q’s security. He will take you down and get you sorted. I will see you in two days for your first mission.”

“Well, I will have to talk to Rosie about but… Ok,” she said, internally she was already looking up the weapon blueprints off DOD’s server when Q led her towards the firing range.


	23. Chapter 23

While Missy was being trained and tested, Mycroft was hosting a meeting for the heads of the secret services of Britain, Ireland and most of Europe, either in person or through video calls. The subject matter? Missy.

The eldest Holmes sibling stood before a large projection at the head of a long table, on the screen was an image of the machine in the form she had first arrived in.

“As I have explained, the android is able to seamlessly blend in with any surroundings, as well as turn invisible to the human eye,” he pressed the button and the image changed to footage from inside Barts, during John’s stay there while recovering. The recording showed Mycroft’s people marching behind him, at the back one of the people suddenly went limp and were dragged off by an invisible force, only to reappear moments later, easily catching up with their colleagues.

“However it seems to only do this should it decide that it is able to gain something from it, this is its primal function, self satisfaction,”

“I was under the impression, Mr. Holmes, that you played a hand in her design,” one of the heads said, eyebrow raised.

He cleared his throat before, turning to meet the heads eye.

“This is correct, during the very early days of her design I worked with Dr. Schmitt, however I soon lost touch with the good doctor, during that time until it’s arrival at my brother's home she had seemingly had a change in heart for the machine's purpose.” He clicked, footage taken moments after Schmidt’s death came on, just as Missy near twisted Mr. Schmidt's head off. “However, as you can clearly see, the thing is still fully able and willing to kill and maim…” The video now showed her attacking him.

“Have a heart, Mycroft, she had just lost her creator… From what my sources say she was practically the poor thing’s mother, we all know you’re not very good at handling such… Intimate matters,” The head of MI6 now spoke, rose to his feet, a beige folder in his grasp.

“I admit, I could have handled this particular situation better, but…” The head of MI6 walked towards him, till he stood in front of Mycroft.

“You failed in short, and are now trying to mislead the people in this room… I have seen the unedited footage of this... Tragic, and avoidable, event.” He turned to address the room, “the android, who goes by the name of Missy, was willing to sacrifice herself for her creator, however was prevented from doing so… It is also able to perform emergency first aid, doing so upon a,” he opened the file, scanning it, “Dr. John Watson, after Mr. Holmes attempted to destroy the android using an electrically fuelled bullet, only for the good doctor to leap in to block it.” He closed the file, Mycroft had now taken the empty seat behind the head, “this also shows that it is able to form strong bonds with people, enough for a man to be willing to cause himself great harm, and possibly death…” He looked back at the Holmes man, sighing. “I think I have seen enough, thank you, Mr. Holmes.”

Mycroft repressed a glare, watching as the room slowly became filled with the remaining guests discussing what they had been shown and told, people ending the video calls, before the room began to empty, till he was alone. The meeting hadn’t gone as well as he predicted it to be.

_How did M get ahold of Missy’s file?_

A knock on his door snapped his attention back into the present. As Anthea closed the door, she held a MI6 classified file in her hand and handed it to Mycroft.

“Missy is being recruited into MI6 sir.”

_Of course M had to shove it in my face. He had every opportunity! But how--_

“She hacked Q’s security and left a note. It’s in the file. I’ll leave you to it.” Mycroft nodded towards Anthea before she left the room quietly.

 

 

> **MI6 [Classified]** **  
> ** Name: Missy Schmidt  
>  Code: 002
> 
> _Written examination 94, physical 100, security interview green light, credit check came up empty, medical green light… how did she pass her medical? Ah, Doctor John Watson. Psychological… interesting. Psychopathic behaviours displayed but unable to clinically diagnose due to circumstantial evidence, social behaviour normal, impaired remorse but empathetic, bold, egotistical but shows great risk assessment. Background check override by M._

 

At the bottom was a handwritten note, though he had not seen it before he immediately knew it’s owner.

 

> _Kiss kiss fattie, I’m with the big boys now._

He snarled as he tossed the file across the room, his breathing shaking with the rage building up inside of him.

 

Across the city, Missy sat in the livingroom as John tried to put a very distraught and overly tired Rosie to bed. The child's screams and wails painfully clear to the android, who hung her head feeling like shit for causing the little ones to become so upset.

She had been permitted to return home while training, where she had gone through the changes in the small families living situation, or at least how her new role may affect them.

It had been going well, with Rosie thinking up all kinds of questions to ask her about her new job. She seemed to be taking to Missy’s absences from the house better than any of them had thought she would.

That was until dinner that night.

The four had been sat around the table, a new habit that John wanted to get Sherlock into, so they could eat as a family, even though for the most part the detective didn’t eat or even touch his food.

“So, Missy,” John began as he began to cut into his meal, “when are they sending you on your first mission?”

“At the end of this week actually,”

“Ah, so trainings nearly finished then?”

“Pretty much, yeah,”

“And how long will you be gone for?”

“About a month…”

This was when the well behaved Rosie’s eyes went wide, her jaw dropping open as she looked at the android she adored in stunned disbelief.

“A month?! Four whole weeks?!” She had cried, Missy now regretting teaching her how many days were in a week and in a month.

She looked at the little girl, eyebrow raised as she tilted her head to the side slightly.

“Yes, Rosie, a whole month,”

“But… But that’s not fair! You can’t go for a month, or ever! I won’t let you!”

“Now Rosie, you’re being silly,” John said, raising an eyebrow in a similar way to Missy, “she has to, it’s part of her new job.”

“Well… She can quit, and find a new job!” The little one’s eyes were now welling up, bottom lip protruding. Missy was about to jump in and prevent what could, and this case would, most likely happen when Rosie throws a major tantrum.

“Rosie.” Her father said sternly.

She hated this tone on him, but it was enough to push the toddler over the edge. She shoved her plate of food away, reached forward and did the same with the other two's dishes, so now all three were smashed upon the floor.

John rose to his feet, picking up his daughter, carrying the screaming child straight upstairs, giving a look to his partner, Sherlock got to his feet and followed, leaving Missy alone.

 

Missy was still on the floor, trying to ensure that even the most smallest shard of the broken dishes was picked up, when the two boys came back downstairs, in a somewhat heated arguement.

“I can’t believe you just told a four year old to get over it…” John said, before forcing a laugh, “what am I saying, of course I can, it’s you!”

“It’s a simple fact, and your fussing and dancing around the subject was being just as useful…”

“I was calming her down, I almost had her settled, but you couldn’t resist sticking your nose in…”

“Is she ok?” Missy asked, slowly standing to her full height, eyes filled with concern for her beloved child.

John was slightly startled, having almost forgot the android had been left, on seeing her face he took a deep breath and nodded.

“She’ll be alright, just a bit tired mixed with upset about you going away, but she’ll understand…”

Missy hung her head, closing her eyes as she turned away, going back to what she was doing.

“I had a feeling this was a bad idea… I should resign before it’s too serious…”

“No, Missy,” John said, going over to the android, kneeling down, placing a hand upon her shoulder, “you need to this, you have to learn about people and life outside of just us… She’ll get that as she grows up,”

She looked to him, nodding ever so slightly as she rose to her feet, walking over to Sherlock, eyebrow raised.

“And she doesn’t have to get over anything… Because I **will** be back, to look after her… And help keep you in line…”

She brushed past him, heading up to the little ones room, to take her usual place, watching over the sleeping child, keeping her safe from anything.


	24. Chapter 24

“Welcome to the secret service, double oh two.”

Missy stood proud in Q’s lab, where he worked on the latest weapons, running her tongue over her teeth as her eyes scanned over the ones she had not yet made a log of.

Her focus was brought to a briefcase which was somewhat forced into her hands, she raised an eye at Q before she opened it, seeing that it was filled with what her records told her where the latest in tech she’d need, along with a briefing on how each item worked.

“This piece of paper in particular,” Q waved it around Missy’s face, earning a look of pure disapproval, “slices glass up to five inches thick.” He said and promptly demonstrated in front of her.

_ Please,  _ she thought to herself  _ I can do better than that with just a piece of my hair if I wished… Urgh, pretend to be impressed Missy, don’t want to make a bad impression with the toy guy. _

“So… this is the infamous papercut that could kill?” She asked, having hacked into Q’s files on his work mere minutes after being hired.

“All papercuts do…” He raised an eyebrow at her, surprised that she had specified on the damage it could do, “but this one just hurts less. Slice the jugular vein and you’ll be dead in seconds, not enough for your brain to process pain. Try not to kill with this piece of paper anyway. They’re expensive to make and it’s not waterproof.”

_ Slice my jugular, ha… Have to have one to slice one, this thing couldn’t get through the first five layers of my coating, never mind sever a wire. _

“Thought about nanoparticles?” She asked, curious to see if he was as smart as he appeared to believe he was.

“Yes, and although it does make it waterproof… It tends not to slice as well.” Q gave Missy a quick glance and noticed she was staring at the paper. “If you’d like, you can drop by anytime this week at the testing lab downstairs and give the tech a go.”

“Hmm, we’ll see… Gotta say, not as shocking or stunning as I had hoped… Such a shame Q, I was hoping for better…” She purred, smirking at him slightly.

Q cleared his throat, temper flaring slightly at her tone and words, she was only a newbie yet already had the attitude and tone of a far more experienced agent.

“Double oh two,” M’s voice said from the side, making the two turn to face the man, “a word in my office, please.” He turned, leaving the two alone.

She turned back to face the quartermaster, handing him back the briefcase, flipping her hair back over her shoulder.

“Must dash,” Missy said, her smug smirk still in place, “must do this again sometime… Maybe then you may even impress me.. Doubtful, considering who I live with, but you never know…” She winked at him, before turning on her heels and following after M, “bye bye techy specy…”

Q let out a low feral growl, slamming the case down on the work bench behind him, shooting glared at the newest agent through the reflective surface behind him, only to see her wave as she disappeared round a corner.

 

“I appreciate your situation, double oh two, but pissing off the head of our tech support is not a wise decision, never mind on your first full day here…” M said, as she entered his office, flopping down on the sofa as she had the first time she had entered the room.

“Well, whose idea was it to keep my real self a secret, hmm? I hate playing second fiddle to a novice, specially when it comes to technology,” she said, putting her feet up. “It’s an insult to what I am, as well as my creator…”

“That may be, but, we both agreed that it would be best…”

“You and fattie agreed, I don’t really care who knows, this façade is just proving to be as dull and pointless as I predicted it to be… Fattie’s fingerprints all over it in that regard…”

“Missy. I don’t care for your tone…”

“And I don’t really care in general, because of you and your merry crew the only human who means a thing to me is distraught and inconsolable. So if you don’t like my tone, take a dive from tower bridge for all the difference it’ll make to me…”

“I can see why the older Holmes finds you difficult to work with,”

“Oh honey, you have no idea…” She said, running her fingers through her hair, “I can be so much worse, especially if you start acting like the great lump… But I had hoped you were smarter than to make such an error, I’d hate to be proven wrong…”

“Then I will try not to ‘act like the great lump’, as you so tastefully put it. Enough small talk, I brought you in here to brief you on your first mission, though I assume that you’re already connected to our network?”

Missy nodded, rolling her eyes

“Naturally darling… Which case first..? I do like the look of the one with C-fours… I have a love of dramatic entrances… May I take that one, oh ever balding leader?” She asked, eyes flashing towards him

“Yes, the one with the C-four is yours. Terror group…”

“Ohhh, I do like the look of the sarin one as well… I can see their faces as I drink a vial of that crap,” Missy interrupted M, sniggering to herself, sitting up slightly, propping herself up on her arms.

“Agent.” He said, sternly, earning a disapproving look from the android, which did not go unnoticed, “let’s take this one at a time... You may, by all means, have a crack at any case you wish, after you’ve dealt with this one.”

“Fine… I already have the files, so you can spare me the briefing…”

M sighed, within the first few meetings between them, he had long given up any hope he had of Missy behaving, either as a decent human or respectable agent, at least when not working on a task.

_ At least she’s seems willing to work within the rules set out on the files,  _ he thought, internally sighing

“Just, at least pretend to carry our comms, please.”

“Fine,” she groaned, laying back down, “I suppose it would be a good opportunity to see how observant my teammates are I guess… A slight perk…”

“Perks don’t include my sofa. We are done here, get out, please.” M tapped his pen against his table and stared intently at Missy.

“I’m going, I’m going, honestly...” She hopped off M’s sofa and walked out of his office with her head turned towards him, sticking out her tongue like when she had last fought with Sherlock.


	25. Chapter 25

When she turned back around, she jumped when Q was right in front of her, with someone who… If she was interested in such things could be described as good looking…

_ Really good looking _ She thought, eyes going over him.

She’d not seen him during her training, so couldn’t help but wonder why he was with Q.

“Missy, meet 001.”

_ So he is an agent. _

Q’s voice was drowned out by Missy’s own wires firing in her head. Her wiring was going mental the longer she looked at the man. She looked down and saw he was offering her his hand.

“Edward.”

“Missy.” She returned, grasped it firmly as she shook hands with him.

_ ‘Calm down Missy. Don’t be a slave to your emotions… wait, why am I acting like Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat Pray Love? Snap out of it!’ _

 

About three days ago, John had introduced Missy to a movie called Eat, Pray, Love. According to the doctor, it would help Missy in understanding some social cues with regards to personal relationships whether it be friendship, partnership or a romantic relationship.

And how did John came across a sappy American romantic comedy?

John had found the movie by accident in one of Sherlock’s Mendelssohn music cover. ‘A guilty pleasure of mine, and Julia Roberts is an amazing actress’, said Sherlock when he walked in on John watching the movie at two in the afternoon.

“I see where you got your ideas of love from.” John hummed as Sherlock sat next to him.

“Sometimes to lose balance for love is part of living a balanced life.” Sherlock echoed in time with Liyer from the movie while looking at John in his eyes. He continued to cite the script word for word, holding John’s hands, slowly closing the distance between them, until his lips were hovering a hair away from John’s.

“... then the truth will not be withheld from you.” John finished the lines before Sherlock could, followed by a kiss.

Sherlock was puzzled. He was about to ask how did John knew that line was coming, and how many times had he watched the movie when John answered his question.

“How did you think that DVD appeared in our flat the first place?”

 

“Damn that’s one hell of a grip,” Edward said, rubbing his hand slightly as she let go, “so you’re the newbie? This should be fun…”

She forced a smile, nodding slightly before she turned on her heels and went straight back into M’s office.

“Another agent, now, I will not work with him.”

“Not going to happen, he will learn from you as you will from him,”

M shot Missy the same glare from earlier, and she knew that was the end of the conversation.

.


	26. Chapter 26

If Missy had known how her reaction to meeting her partner would go, as word made its way around the agency, she may have given it more thought. Now as the two walked through, both when together and apart, they were teased slightly about Missy’s apparent crush.

_ Oh please, I barely squeezed his hand, hardly crushed it  _ Missy thought each time she heard the word, having at the time no idea what a “crush” was.

What made this light hearted teasing worse, was that they were to share a room while in Greece, Missy however missed the point of why this added to it, until they walked into their room.

“You have got to be kidding me…” She said, shaking her head as she saw the double bed, the only one within the room. “I don’t… Share beds,”  _ I rarely even sleep in them... _

“Oh come on, we’ll hardly even be in here, it’ll be fun.”

“You have an odd idea of fun, we are here to work… We have to retrieve a…” She opened up her laptop, though she already had the file up on her internal drive. “Stuart Thomas, the head of Station G. He was grabbed two days ago, but there has been no ransom note… Why must we share a room? I was not told that I’d have to share anything, never mind a bed...” She asked, going back to what had originally irked her.

“We’re meant to be a couple, and couples tend to share a room and a bed…”

“Couples are two men, not a man and a woman, that is just… Odd,”

Edward shot her a look, slightly surprised, but smiled at the refreshing change to that overused sentence.

“Well… We’re sharing a bed and a room, end of… I think I’ll take a shower, freshen up while I have the chance, unless you…” He indicated the ensuite door, but Missy shook her head.

“No, thank you, I am quite fresh enough as is,” Edward raised an eyebrow but shrugged it off, taking out his wash bag he went into the bathroom. Now alone, she was using every tactic known to mankind to avoid the temptation of using her x-ray vision. She knew it could pierce the wall easily, however she didn’t need to blow her cover to her “partner” just yet. 

Unfortunately, she ended up giving in to this temptation, her resolve not nearly as powerful as her eyes. As she watched him in the shower, she saw through every bone, muscle and hair on his body, before backing up a bit to admire his outer appearance.

_ ‘Lucky me!’  _ Missy thought. Unbeknown to her, their streak of luck ends at the hotel room.


	27. Chapter 27

The next seven hours were filled with gunshots, explosions and a lot of confusion. Missy had to cover, up carefully, how indestructible she is.

In the first two hours, once Edward was dried and dress, the two Edward had scouted the areas around Station G headquarters, identifying which areas had the least security, possible escape routes, cross referencing this with their list of suspects.

They had made their way into G HQ, Edward running his hand over the door frame, brow creasing.

“Newly sealed. Someone has been here.” Edward whispered as he sniffed the doorframe.

“He’s down there.” Missy said, looking straight down, to where she could see them partially, hearing their whispers ten feet under below them.

“We don’t know for sure…” Edward continued on with a twenty-seven second lecture on safety and assumptions while Missy continued to listen in on what was said below them.

She raised her hand, placing her fingertips on his lips

“Just, trust me on this, I checked the layout of this place back home, three floors down is the most secure area if someone was to be kept there…”

_ His lips… They’re so soft… Warm… _ She thought, before quickly drawing her hand back. Edward stared at her for a moment before nodding.

“You lead then, I’ll cover you…”

She nodded, gently grasping his wrist as she led the way down. She could feel his heart rate beneath her fingers, her mind focused on this and the possible outcomes when they reached those who had been below them.

“You’re pretty calm for a newbie. Seventy-eight beats per minute…” He commented, making her eyes go wide as she looked ahead

_ Shit. Forgot to readjust my heart rate. _

She released his wrist, shooting him an unimpressed look.

“Why, nervous?” SHe asked, mockingly, rolling her eyes.

It was a slow descend and the tunnels were built as a maze, if not for Q in their ears there was no doubt her partner would have sensed something was off.

“Make a left turn, sixteen steps and stick to the wall on your right.”

“Hold on.” Missy stopped as they took the fifteenth step. 

She had to know what was in those walls, however she also had to make it look as “human” as she could, asking his trust this way twice would surely come across as bizarre. She pulled out a pair of shades she’d nicked off stall they passed, sliding them on she looked through the wall, nodding to herself.

On the other side she saw a vast array of  traps in, set up and waiting for them. The only safe spot was the two-brick wide lane on the right.

“What is it?” Edward asked.

Every time Missy used her x-ray vision, her eyes would glow red. She had nicked a few sets of contacts lenses from Mycroft which matched her eye colour, but she still needed a cover to answer how she knew what she saw was there, hence the sunglasses indoors.

“X-ray glasses. Wanted to see what’s underneath all that. Very impressive.” Missy grinned at her cover story, as she referred to the walls surrounding them.

“Oh, why thank you. I try very hard to keep in shape you know,” Missy acted as though she hadn’t heard him as she led the way.

_ He is... flirting? Oh mother, what do I do?  _ Missy quickly fired a text to John asking for his advice.


	28. Chapter 28

John was about to drop a tea bag into his mug when he heard his mobile go off with an incoming text. He was hoping for a case. Sherlock had been home for six days now, and he had been driving both him and Rosie up the walls.

**He’s flirting with me. What do I do? Need advice. -Missy**

“Oh dear god.” John wiped his face with his free hand and sighed through his nose. When he tried to call her, she declined his call almost immediately.

**Can’t talk now. On mission. -Missy**

“Flirting on a mission? Who the hell flirts on a mission?!” John said to himself while typing the same message to be sent to Missy.

**Yes. On mission. Another agent, duh. What do I do? You’re not being helpful at all. Time is ticking doc. -Missy**

**Let’s wait until you are back. It’s not possible for me to send you advice over text messages. Not enough context. -JW**

**Ok. Gotta go. Area is hot. -Missy**

As Missy sent that last text to John, she was firing away with her fake gun, her fingers extended along the barrel, timing her wrist movements with that of the shots she fired from her fingertips.

As they took down the automatic weapons along the tunnel, Edward motioned towards a fainted glow down the tunnel.

When they came into a clearing, someone was standing in front of Stuart wearing a pristine three-piece suit and a fedora, holding a gun in Stuart’s head. There was only a bare lightbulb on the left-side wall. Both Missy and Edward pointed their guns at the man’s head.

“Do not shoot to kill. I repeat, keep both of them alive. Clear your throat if you read me agents.” Q sounded panicky. He must have seen something both Edward and Missy had not, and he knew both of them wouldn’t miss.

Before Edward could clear his throat, Missy spotted what Q saw, and promptly cleared her throat while walking calmly towards Stuart and the kidnapper.

“Well looky look. Mister Thomas. Nice switcheroo you’ve conducted here.” She said as she reached towards the kidnapper’s gun, flicking the safety off.

“The safety’s off?” Edward asked, the question was not directed to either Missy, Q or the kidnapper.

“Stuart’s here.” Missy flipped away the supposed kidnapper’s fedora and revealed his face while motioning like a magician revealing the surprise with a loud “Tadaa!”

“Ta-daa indeed. Good job Missy. Double-oh one, keep your eyes on the task, not her arse.” Q snorted over the comms. Edward rolled his eyes on Q’s teasing comments and mouthed ‘sorry’ towards Missy.

“Good work newbie. Now come along. Your real task is through here.” Stuart motioned through an opening panel on the wall. “Thanks Q. I’ll take it from here.”


	29. Chapter 29

As they walked through more tunnels, Missy explained how she came to the conclusion that it was a setup so quickly - his finger wasn’t on the trigger, tiny speck of red indicates safety is on, the man strapped to the chair wasn’t squinting in the dark. Stuart’s file clearly indicated that he had defective eyesight, the reason he was pulled out of active duty and made head of Station G. He was supposed to squint.

“That Holmes fellow rubbing off on you huh?” Edward remarked as they stepped into a huge hangar, much like the one Q has for his experimentations. Missy only shrugged and smiled.

“That’s enough chit chat. Back to business agents.” Stuart held out two folders, one for Edward and Missy each. “Here’s your real task. We have chatter on the underground that a huge nuclear deal is about to happen here in Greece. The meeting will be held tomorrow at 1500 in a seafront town called Chalcis, in a restaurant on the intersection of Messapion and Proastiou. You will find everything else you need to know in that file. I will be in your ears from now onwards. Your flight leaves in twenty.”

“Damn it, I left my best suit in the hotel…”

“Oh for God’s sake, I can make you a new suit if your vanity is so vast…” Missy said, sneering at her partner. He looked at her, unsure if she was being serious or just teasing.

“Don’t make me tape that mouth of yours shut, Ed.” Stuart pointedly said when he slammed the door to the aircraft shut.

“Someone’s in a mood. Glad he isn’t coming along.” Edward said to the door as it slammed shut.

_ “I can still hear you. Don’t make me come in there and whoop your arse.” _

Missy started giggling, and as Edward turned over looking at her with really adorable confused puppy eyes, she sunk into a laughing fit. He crossed his arms, turning away from her. Her brow creased, her eyes scanning him, trying to read his emotions, before he suddenly leaped at her, tackling her to the floor. Missy retaliated by flipping them around, so she was now on top. When she realised she was straddling him on his hips, the laughing stopped, especially as she watched the heat of his body change, with movement under where she straddled.

“Uh, sorry.” She apologised as she stood and moved away.

“Don’t. I… uh…” Edward looked around the cabin hesitantly and stuttered, “I enjoyed that.”

_ “I can still hear you! Come on agents. Take a seat. We are taking off in thirty seconds.” _


	30. Chapter 30

The entire journey from Athens to Chalcis was all business. They planned their route in, possible escapes and contingency plans, if anything was to go wrong. Priority number one was to gather intel.

“I really don’t give two damns about the agents in the building. Dead or alive doesn’t matter. Most importantly retrieve the suitcase cuffed to the man in a red tie.” Stuart briefed through the earpiece.

“Man in red tie got a name?” Missy probed.

“Yeah, Lee. Born in North Korea…”

“Grew up in Russia and China, trained marksman, mercenary as a nuclear weapons expert.” Missy finished Stuart’s sentence.

“How did you know that? That wasn’t on file… Missy?” Edward noticed Missy was spacing out. He gently held her hand while removing his earpiece with his free hand. “Missy?” He repeated.

She brought herself back to the room, looking at him, as he motioned for her to remove her earpiece as he had, which she did.

“Something’s not right. Who is this Lee to you?”

Missy sighed. Her mother was not someone she wanted to discuss with Edward this early on in their partnership, but the look in his eyes… she knew it wouldn’t be a secret for long.

“My mother. Her blood is in his hands.”

“Are you seeking revenge?”

“No.”  _ Yes. _

“I don’t believe you.”

“I don’t care.”  _ Do not try and stop me… Please. _

“Oh,” Edward chuckled, “I believe you do care.”

“I really don’t want to talk about this. I won’t do more than what the task requires, alright?”

He nodded, giving her a gentle pat on the back of her hand before releasing it. Just as he was putting back his earpiece in, Stuart announced their arrival in Chalcis.


	31. Chapter 31

Missy’s heels clicked down the stairs of the aircraft, with Edward right behind her. The only member of the aircraft crew carried their luggages into the boot of a waiting car.

“Hop on. It will take you to the hotel down the road from the restaurant. I will reconnect in a few hours. In the meantime, settle in and don’t get too comfortable with each other.” Stuart said

As the car drove along Messapian, passing by the restaurant, both agents tried to analyse as much as they could from the speeding car. Of course, Missy did it better. She had already prepared the floor plan and structural documents the moment they got onto the car, and as they passed by, she scanned the building for any discrepancies.

 

“Metochiatis Grill. Sounds like they have some pretty good steaks there.” Edward commented while the car pulled up at the hotel lobby.

“Should we scout--”

“Shh. We’ll have dinner there tonight.” Missy could read from Edward’s face -  _ The walls have ears _ .

They walked through the hotel lobby, collected their keys and headed up to their room. Their cover was to be a couple, again, on a cross-country honeymoon, because no one ever selects Chalcis as a business meeting venue (unless they were hiding something).

Edward held Missy’s hand, fingers entwined as they headed upstairs. The moment they were in the room and the door closes, Missy shook her hand free.

“Well, you weren’t very convincing with your ‘newly wed’ act. Won’t even give me a peck?” Edward grumbled.

“I’d like to see you try that again... Let’s see if I’ll be faster in blowing your brains across the room first.” Missy teased as she pulled a pistol out from her knee-high boot.

He lifted his hand in surrender, laughing. 

“Don’t get hostile. Let’s just… put that away, unpack and plan for the night?”

Missy did a quick scan of the room and found a few bugs.

“Now darling. Let’s get down to business.” She said while she signed with her hands ‘bugs in room.’ He picked up on the sign and pulled out a white noise generator before whispering to Missy across the coffee table.

“How did you know there were bugs?”

“Room’s too quiet.”  _ Because I have an in-built electronic scanner. _

“Right. Now, we can’t pull them out, then whoever put it there would know we’ve found it, and they’ve heard the initial part of our conversation. Let’s pretend we were role-playing?”

“Uh, not sure what you meant by role-playing, but sure… if you think that’ll fool them. They’d really have to be extra idiotic to believe whatever we are about to do next. Or we could just leave the white noise on.”

“Can you sleep with that?”

“Yeah. It gets really noisy in Baker Street especially when they have a case.”  _ I’ve “slept” through worse...  _

After they unpacked, Edward came back to the small hall area with two mugs of tea and set them on the coffee table where Missy was reading some files.  _ Pretending _ to read a file so she could start processing floor plans and escape routes in her head.

“Can we talk about Lee?” Edward asked after he nursed his tea for a few minutes in silence.

“I think you know enough.”  _ The less you know Edward, the less of a target you are. _

“I tried to look it up. Everything is classified, even you... You know, Missy,” Edward paused, turned over to face Missy and gently held her wrist, waited for her to look up to him before he continued, “As agents, we have level eight security clearance, nine would be people like M and his kind, and only the Prime Minister, and Her Majesty, has level ten security clearance. We go through SC, DV, CTC, and Q for background checks. There’s really not much we don’t have access to. I’ve even looked up on Mycroft Holmes, mind you. Except for his weight, age and marriage information, everything is really there.”

“Really?”  _ Oh-hoh fatty! You’re finished! _

“Yeah, really. Now, there must be something really classified that you’re working on even now that you can’t share with me, but please know that I’m here for you even if it doesn’t concern me.”

She sat there, staring at him for a few moments, scanning his face entirely before she said softly

“I appreciate that… Ed,”


	32. Chapter 32

As the clock struck five, Edward got up from the sofa and headed into the bathroom. He had motioned for Missy to get ready for ‘dinner’.

“Dress comfortably.” He said as he closed the bathroom door.

As Missy looked up on the internet for a suitable outfit, she stumbled across an article that read “ [ What to Wear on a First Date? ](http://theeverygirl.com/what-to-wear-on-a-first-date-we-asked-the-experts/) ”.

_ ‘Comfort is key no matter what.’ Seriously? Duh. And people get paid to write this? Least Rosie will have an easy life in that case. _

As Missy read through the article, scoffing as she shook her head.  _ I know what will work, better than these meat bags…  _ She glanced at Edward, smirking to herself.  _ If he wants to flirt, then I will kick his arse in that too. _

She made her way into the bathroom, coming out in a pair of tight black jeans, over knee high boots, on top was a blood red loose short sleeve blouse.

“That looks…” His eyes went over her, until he realised she was watching his gaze, arms crossed, head tilted to the side, “erm, comfortable.” Edward stood by the door frame, hands in his pants pockets. She scoffed, walking on, not seeing him steal a full view of her behind.

“And you look like you ran out of clean clothes.” She was not kidding. He had a terrible looking jumper on with a pair of wrinkled jeans. His shoes looked decent, but could use a good polishing.

“Want to take me shopping? It’s a small town but I’m sure they have… something. We have time before dinner. What say you?”

“Is that how you ask someone out on a date? How unrefined…”

“I just… You’re an odd one, I don’t think I could ever ask you out properly…”

“Well… Let’s get you looking like you didn’t just dumpster dive for clothes, and go from there, hm?” She asked, pulling out a sewing kit, smirking as she snipped the scissors she held.


End file.
